• Wishful thinking on Delta

    Twin tunnels plan leaves little cause for optimism
  • Here are two numbers that out of context have little meaning: 9,000 and 13,343.
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    The first number is the cubic-feet-per-second flow that state officials want to put through two giant tunnels buried beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
    The second number was Sunday's mean flow in cubic feet per second of the Sacramento River at Freeport, north of Courtland, where Gov. Jerry Brown wants to put the intakes for the twin tunnels (there is no significant inflow into the river between Freeport and Courtland).
    Obviously there would be seasonal adjustments to the amount of water sucked out of the river and pushed through the tunnels. But the numbers being bandied about again raise the threshold question: How do you divert that much water from the most important source for the largest freshwater estuary west of the Mississippi River without seriously jeopardizing the water quality of that Delta? Or its wildlife habitat? Or its agriculture?
    Backers of the so-called Bay Delta Conservation Plan claim the acquisition of some 100,000 acres for wildlife restoration will offset the diminished freshwater flow to those wetlands.
    That is an untested theory at best; it's wishful thinking at worst.
    Last week in a letter to the state, federal wildlife officials again voiced serious concerns about the whole idea. They fear that diverting that much water will harm imperiled species such as salmon and Delta smelt. Fish migrations could be harmed and, in some cases, the flow of the river reversed.
    BDCP officials seemed to pooh-pooh the concerns. The plan will not make winter-run extinction more likely, they said in a letter in response. And they noted that in 2009, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported that extinction would be likely with climate change alone unless upstream dams are modified for fish passage.
    One supposes being able to blame species extinction on something other than the twin tunnels somehow mitigates the problem (and the guilt) about the extinction.
    Karla Nemeth, the BDCP's program manager, told the Sacramento Bee she is "very optimistic" such concerns will be addressed in the final plan, set for public release this summer.
    We're considerably less optimistic.
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