Wake-up call
However, the actions to date by the state regarding the MLPA Initiative, the Central Valley “permits to pollute” program and the campaign to build the peripheral canal appear to moving in the opposition direction of restoring waters “to swimmable, fishable and drinkable condition.” I hope that the release of today’s list is a wake up call to the public and the state and federal governments that California must aggressively enforce the federal and state Clean Water Acts and other laws combatting water pollution!
The Brown and Obama administrations are both pushing for the construction of a peripheral canal (”conveyance”) through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to increase water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to corporate agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and southern California water agencies. A coalition of Delta residents, family farmers, Indian Tribes, grassroots conservationists and environmental justice advocates opposes the canal because it is expected to lead to the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other species.
The release of the list also follows the setting of two disturbing records on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta when the water year ended on September 30.
First, 9 million Sacramento splittail were “salvaged” at the state and federal Delta pumps near Tracy in 2011. The previous record salvage number for the splittail, a native minnow found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, was 5.5 million in 2006 (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/09/09/over-11-million-fish-salvaged-in-delta-death-pumps-since-january-1).
Second, the water projects pumped a record 6.5 million acre-feet of water from the Delta in 2011, according to government data compiled by Spreck Rosecrans at Environmental Defense. The previous record was 6.3 million acre-feet in 2005.
It is clear that California has to get more serious about cleaning up its waterways by including pollution and other impacts other than just fishing and gathering in its strange concept of “marine protection” under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
At the same time, state officials have to abandon plans to divert more water from the Delta by constructing the peripheral canal to benefit agribusiness and southern California water agencies.
Finally, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board must aggressively enforce agricultural water pollution in the Central Valley rather than continuing to grant waivers under a voluntary program.
Governor Jerry Brown’s signing of four bills in the Human Right to Water package – Assembly Bill 983 by Henry T. Perea (D-Fresno), AB 938 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella), AB 1221 by Assemblymember Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) and SB 244 by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) – is commendable. However, the administration has much more work to do if it really wants to clean up California’s waterways and groundwater supplies.
“Water is sacred, water is Life for all,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “Just as all need to breathe Air, so should be the waters be for all, not just those who market water and ruin the rest in poor planning.”
Resources:
- The supporting documents for EPA’s listing decision and a link to the list submitted by California are available at EPA’s web site.
- For information on Total Maximum Daily Loads, please visit EPA’s web site.
- For the full list of EPA’s added waters, maps, and more information, please visit EPA’s media center.
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More on California’s troubled waters:
- Cali tribes get Governor’s ear
- Why Is A Big Oil Lobbyist In Charge Of California’s Marine Protection Program?
- Cali. Governor Jerry Brown doubles down on water diversion
- Exposed! Closed-door meetings on California’s peripheral canal
- Marine Protection: Jerry Brown has a Chance to Fix Arnold’s Mess
- Has Southern California restricted fishing? It depends on who you ask…
Dan Bacher is the Editor of the Fish Sniffer online and print magazine. He blogs at Sacramento for Democracy, Alternet and DailyKos.
(Chinook salmon image 
Some rights reserved by PNNL – Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
EPA’s water pollution regulations violate the Clean Water Act, as they ignore 60% of the pollution in sewage Congress intended to ‘treat’ under the Act. Among this waste is nitrogenous (urine and protein) waste, while this waste besides exerting an oxygen demand also is a fertilizer for algae, thus contributes to dead zones.(www.petermaier.net)
All this is caused by a faulty applied test, EPA used to set NPDES treatment standards, while EPA already in 1984 acknowledged the problems caused by this test, it ever since refused to correct the test. In 1987, of the record, EPA stated that the test and regulations should be corrected, but that this was impossible as it would require a re-education and re-tooling of an entire industry.
In a recent White House petition http://wh.gov/gVc the Obama Adminstration is asked to demand that EPA correct this test and finnaly after 40 years implement the CWA as was intended and possible.