The Delta | Contra Costa Herald

Frazier sends letter to California WaterFix to oppose Delta tunnels

November 5, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

Assemblymember Jim Frazier, whose 11th Assembly District includes much of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, has called upon a state board to reject a change in water rights as proposed by proponents of the Delta twin tunnels project. frazier-waterfix-letter-nov-2016

“My constituents expect to be protected by the State of California,” Frazier said in a six-page letter to the State Water Resources Control Board, which is considering a petition to divert water from the Sacramento River into the tunnels that would be built by the California WaterFix Project.

The project requires a change in water rights. A petition for that change was filed this summer by the state Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which want to ship water to Central and Southern California by going around the Delta via twin tunnels.

With public hearings on the petition continuing this month and into the new year, Frazier denounced the proposed diversions, saying they would “devastate Delta communities that rely on a healthy Delta environment to ensure a thriving local economy.”

Frazier asserted that the WaterFix Project does not meet the requirements of the 2009 Delta Reform Act, which established the co-equal goals of providing a reliable water supply while protecting, restoring and enhancing the Delta – “in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource and agricultural values of the Delta.”

“This language was not just provided as an idle consideration for the administration, but represents a high-level declaration of policy that must be satisfied,” he wrote.

Frazier criticized the WaterFix Project, stating that it does nothing to increase or ensure a reliable water supply, nor does it take into consideration that the water it proposes to take is needed by those who live and work in and around the Delta. The diversions, he said, will endanger the livelihoods of those who depend on Delta farming, fishing and tourism, as well as the millions of Californians who get their drinking water directly from the Delta.

And a proposal to backfill the diversion by taking water from farmers and communities in other parts of the state is also unacceptable, he said.

“I urge the administration not to take water from farmers and communities around the state to give it to the Delta just so that the administration can turn around and justify shipping approximately the same volume of water to Southern California,” Frazier added.

To contact Assemblymember Frazier please visit his website at www.asmdc.org/frazier or call his District Offices at 707-399-3011 or 925-513-0411. Follow Frazier on Facebook and “Like” him for updates on events and happenings in the 11th AD.

Tall ship Lady Washington back in Antioch for tours, voyages through November 1st

October 20, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

The tall ship Lady Washington.

The tall ship Lady Washington is visiting the Antioch City Marina in Antioch, again, now through November 1st. On Wednesday, October 26, Lady Washington invites guests for a Voyage of Explorers Sail, which is an all-ages public version of its popular three-hour educational program for 4th-7th graders.

On Saturday, October 29, the ship will welcome kids and adults in costume for special tours 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., followed by a two-hour Halloween Sail 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The Lady Washington docked near the former Humphrey’s restaurant in Antioch, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. Photo by Allen Payton

October 20 Tours: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ($5 donation)
October 21 Tours: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ($5 donation)
October 22 Tours: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ($5 donation); Adventure Sail: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ($39/$47)
October 23 Tours: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ($5 donation); Adventure Sail: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ($39/$47)
October 24 Ship closed.
October 25 Tours: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ($5 donation)
October 26 Voyage of Explorers Sail: 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ($35)
Tours: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ($5 donation)
October 27 Tours: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ($5 donation)
October 28 Tours: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ($5 donation)
October 29 Tours: 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ($5 donation)
Halloween Sail: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ($39/$47)
October 30 Tours: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ($5 donation)
Adventure Sail: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ($39/$47)
October 31 Ship closed.
November 1 Tours: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ($5 donation)

For more information visit www.historicalseaport.org/ships/lady-washington.

Delta Flood Safety Fair mixes family fun with flood readiness in Isleton on Saturday, Oct. 22

October 19, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

ISLETON, CA – In concert with California Flood Preparedness Week, the Delta Protection Commission declares a week in October to be the annual Delta Flood Preparedness Week. In 2016, Delta Flood Preparedness Week will run from Monday, October 17 through Saturday, October 22.

Due to the unique conditions of life in the Delta, flood risk is dramatically different than in other regions of the state. In the Delta, drought conditions do NOT reduce flood risk, because Delta levees hold back water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – not just when the rivers run high. These unique conditions are addressed at the Delta Flood Safety Fair, a fun and informative day at the Delta Farmers’ Market on Highway 12 west of the Rio Vista Bridge. In its third year, the event is sponsored by the Delta Protection Commission and the Discover the Delta Foundation, and is scheduled for Saturday, October 22nd from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

This year’s participants include perennial favorites River Delta Fire, offering photo ops for the kids with their ladder truck, Solano Office of Emergency Services (OES) giving tours of their Mobile Command Center, the Sacramento County Marine Patrol exhibiting their specialized watercraft, and the specially trained rescue dogs of Sacramento County Search and Rescue. Other participants include the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine addressing livestock and pet safety, the US Coast Guard, CalRecycle, the Department of Water Resources’ Division of Flood Management (DWR), the Diving Accident Rescue Team (DART), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Red Cross, the Delta Science Center and DCC Engineering.

The event also includes food vendors, Delta wine tasting, children’s activities and live music.

WHAT: Delta Flood Safety Fair

WHEN: Saturday, October 22, 2016 – 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

WHERE: Delta Farmers’ Market, Highway 12 at Highway 160, just west of the Rio Vista Bridge.

PHONE: (916) 375-4886

WHO: CalRecycle, Central California Valley Flood Control Association, DART, DCC Engineering, Delta Protection Commission, Delta Science Center, DWR, Discover the Delta Foundation, Dutra Museum of Dredging, FEMA, Red Cross, River Delta Fire, Sacramento County Marine Patrol, Sacramento Search and Rescue, Solano County OES, UC Davis, US Coast Guard

Sheriff’s Office Marine Services Unit helps rescue boater near Pittsburg

May 10, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

The rescued boater, second from left, with his rescuers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Sheriff’s Office Marine Services Unit. photo courtesy of CCCSheriff’s Office

The Office of the Sheriff Marine Services Unit on Saturday morning, April 30, located a missing jet-skier on Browns Island near Pittsburg. He had been overdue for some time. Because of 5-6 foot swells, 40 mile per hour wind gusts and shallow waters, it was difficult for any vessel to get to the boater.

Fortunately, a work boat from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was nearby and was able to get to the boater. The boater and his vessel were taken back to shore. Other than being cold, he did not need any medical attention.

Contra Costa County joins other agencies, groups to sue L.A. water district over Delta islands purchase

April 15, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

On Thursday, Contra Costa County, the Planning and Conservation League and Food and Water Watch, as well as two other Delta local agencies, Central Delta Water Agency and San Joaquin County announced they will file a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Met) over their plan to purchase several islands in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary.

On March 14, 2016, Metropolitan Water District had filed a Notice of Exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act for the purchase of the Delta islands, claiming the purchase was for Delta habitat restoration purposes.

However, Met’s General Manager, Jeff Kightlinger, admitted to the press at the time of the island purchase announcement that the islands could facilitate building the $15.7 billion Delta tunnels project championed by Governor Brown by “reducing eminent-domain needs and providing a storage place for construction dirt.”

In addition, Mr. Kightlinger made additional public statements regarding the uses and benefits of the Delta islands that contradicted the CEQA exemption statement.

At a rally in Stockton in support of the lawsuit, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director, Restore the Delta spoke.

“Based on this improper CEQA filling, we are calling on the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors to reverse the bad vote that they made at their General Manager’s urging to purchase the Delta islands,” she said. “Clearly, the purchase of the Delta islands is Met’s attempt to anchor the Delta tunnels in our region so that construction could begin, despite the fact that the plan is still not approved or financed.

“The $175 million purchase price for the Delta islands does not count the costs to Southern California ratepayers for the inevitable litigation that begins with today’s filing,” Barrigan-Parrilla continued. “If Met loses in court, they will not be able to ever sell these islands for the same price. That means Southern Californian water users will become owners of a very expensive duck habitat hundreds of miles to the north. Met will also be on the hook for maintenance of hundreds of miles of Delta levees, an ongoing cost that will be paid year after year by Southern California ratepayers.”

“Our 35,000 members from throughout California agree there are better ways for Southern California water agencies to plan for their water future. More than 7500 area residents have already signed letters that will be sent to Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors urging them to drop the Delta islands purchase and to instead invest the $175 million in solutions that build sustainability in Southern California like storm water capture and water recycling,” she added. “Met has already spent nearly $100 million on Delta tunnels planning, but the process at the State Water Board has recently ground to a halt, and there is no financial plan between Met and agricultural water districts, like the SEC fined Westlands, as to who will pay what proportion of the $15.5 billion construction costs.”

For more information on Restore the Delta and their efforts to stop the Delta Tunnels, visit www.restorethedelta.org.

Pittsburg Yacht Club to celebrate 69th annual Opening Day on the Delta, Saturday, April 9

April 3, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

The Pittsburg Yacht Club is hosting their 69th annual Opening Day on the Delta Parade of decorated boats and Blessing of the fleet on Saturday, April 9th. All boat owners in all three marinas are invited to attend. The theme is flags and banners.

Currently, there are 21 boats are signed up including Delta Bayliners Y.C and Sea Ray Y.C.

A captains meeting will be held at the Yacht Club, located at 3 Marina Boulevard, at 10:00 a.m., the parade will start at 11:00 a.m.

The parade will start directly across from the Yacht Club at the west end of Brown’s Island and proceed to beyond the POSCO steel mill and return. Staff Chaplain, Father Robert Rien of St. Ignatius Church in Antioch, will be stationed on the Commodore’s yacht to bless the fleet as it sails past.

The best public viewing will be from the gazebo area and along the shoreline between the center basin and the George Lowey Basin.

First, second and third place awards will be presented during lunch at the yacht club following the parade.

Residents urged to speak against Contra Costa Water District deal on Delta Tunnels, Wed., April 6

April 1, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

Restore the Delta says to tell the Contra Costa Water Board “Say no to back room deals that sell out Delta water 1uality for the region”

By Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director, Restore the Delta

The Contra Costa Water District Board of Directors will soon be reviewing the settlement agreement that they recently signed with the Delta Tunnels plan effort. The settlement drops CCWD’s protest against the tunnels plan in exchange for a separate pipeline to deliver drinking water to its customers. We are urging all concerned residents to attend the meeting.

This may be your only opportunity to register a public comment on how you feel about CCWD’s self-interested approach to secure a water supply at the expense of the community it serves.

What: CCWD Public Board Meeting
When: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 6:30 to 9:00 pm. (Come at 6:00 pm if you would like to organize with us prior to the meeting)
Where: 1331 Concord Ave., Concord, CA.

The Contra Costa Water District, is choosing to exchange its present contract for Delta water deliveries for an intake above the Delta that will remove even more fresh water from the estuary. This not only puts all other Delta communities at risk for even worse water quality, but also leaves their own customers within their own district with degraded Delta water for other uses. Additionally, their decision leaves the San Francisco Bay Estuary with degraded water quality which will negatively impact that magnificent ecosystem.

Contra Costa County residents recreate in high numbers in the Delta, live around its water ways, and have regular contact with the water. Environmental justice communities and recreational anglers fish Delta waterways for sustenance and professional tournaments, and Contra Costa County farmers depend on quality Delta water for their businesses.

Furthermore, the impacts will be exacerbated for residents in Discovery Bay for all water uses — from toxic algal blooms to waterways polluted with salt, Selenium and human carcinogens. Reducing flow through the Delta will put the estuary in a state of “permanent drought.”

CCWD’s willingness to settle is an indictment of how bad the Delta Tunnels plan really is. The Tunnels Project will have egregious water quality impacts in the Delta. CCWD should drop the settlement, and rejoin the unified opposition to the Tunnels plan launched by the entire Bay-Delta community, not cut a self-serving back room deal!

Lastly, Restore the Delta and collaborating environmental groups have in the past supported an expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir (and an intertie between Contra Costa Water District and Santa Clara Valley Water District) as ways to meet water needs for the greater Bay Area. However, we are reconsidering our support of such measures seeing that Contra Costa Water District would now become a party to depriving the Bay-Delta estuary of needed flows through the Delta tunnels project. CCWD is effectively transforming the expansion of Los Vaqueros from a solution to a tool of the Bay-Delta estuary water grab.

Read our opposition to this settlement here.

If you have questions, about this alert, please feel free to call our office at 209-475-9550. We will see you, our members, at 6 pm in order to organize before the meeting on April 6, 2016. If you cannot make the meeting, submit a public comment here.

Thank you for your continued support.

The Contra Costa Water District service area includes Antioch, Bay Point, Brentwood (portion), Clayton, Clyde, Concord, Martinez (portion), Oakley, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill (portion), Port Costa and Walnut Creek (portion). To find your Director on the Board visit http://www.ccwater.com/426/Division-Map—Find-Your-Director. If you can’t attend the meeting you can email your Director by visiting http://www.ccwater.com/416/Board-of-Directors.

Restore the Delta opposes DWR-Contra Costa Water District deal on Delta Tunnels

April 1, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

On Tuesday, the Contra Costa Water District announced a withdrawal of their protest petition with the State Water Resources Control Board regarding the “Change of Diversion Petition” filed by the lead state and federal agencies promoting the Delta Tunnels.

The Contra Costa Water District has settled with the Department of Water Resources claiming that the state is going to pay for their new water diversion facility, rather than CCWD customers, to mitigate impacts to drinking water quality resulting from operation of the Delta Tunnels.

Response from Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director, Restore the Delta:

“The settlement is, in itself, an indictment of the Tunnels and represents Contra Costa Water District’s self-interested approach to the Delta as a whole.

“The new CCWD intake will have an impact on water quality and quantity in the Delta and is not covered in the EIR for the Delta Tunnels. The settlement says that DWR reserves the right to override environmental needs and concerns to build/operate the Delta tunnels. They are setting up the project as beyond the law, a project by Governor Brown’s fiat.

“Meanwhile, the CCWD says they are not supporting CA Water Fix — this is simply their insurance policy for their customers. However, Contra Costa residents still need good water quality in the Delta for all the other uses. Contra Costa residents recreate in the Delta in high numbers.

“In addition, a new intake for the Contra Costa Water District will require another change in the point of diversion petition to be brought to the State Water Resources Control Board. The process will continue to unfold for years, yet water exporters still do not have money on the table to continue moving the process forward or to finance the project.

“Sadly, CCWD has sacrificed other Delta communities and Bay-Delta fisheries by agreeing to this settlement, as everyone else in the Delta would be left with degraded water quality. Clearly the Brown Administration is attempting to carve up Delta communities, in the same way Owens Valley was carved up for a water grab many years ago.

“California taxpayers are going to be on the hook to pay for this mitigation so that mega growers in the Westlands Water District and in Kern County can continue to grow almonds in the desert for export. All of this deal making is to create a system that subsidizes mega growers at the expense of California taxpayers and the environment.

“This strategy of CA Water Fix is to work around public processes and to keep the public in the dark in an attempt to push the project through no matter the impacts on the San Francisco Bay-Delta, or the people or species who live here.”

To learn more about Restore the Delta visit www.restorethedelta.org.

Southern California Water Agency to Purchase Delta islands, Could Advance Tunnels Project

March 10, 2016 By Publisher Leave a Comment

At a closed session board meeting Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California authorized the purchase of four islands in the San Francisco Bay-Delta for an undisclosed sum.

The deal is highly controversial in Northern California as it would put Southern California’s most powerful water agency in control of a group of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta islands that can serve as water storage areas or entry points for the proposed $15 billion Delta Tunnels projects.

For months MWD has been considering the purchase of islands now used for farming. The islands mirror the path of the plan for the Delta Tunnels proposal.

The four island deal includes Bouldin Island, Webb Tract, Holland Tract, and Bacon Island. They cover approximately 20,000 acres of the Delta. Here (and above) is a map of the islands in the path of the Delta Tunnels.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta spoke on the matter.

“It is troubling for the Delta region that Metropolitan Water District is going to acquire such a significant portion of Delta land and Delta water rights,” she said. “They have the resources to change law and policies statewide to maximize their access to Delta water in their favor. They will own two islands that are directly in the path of the proposed Delta Tunnels project, eliminating eminent domain concerns for that portion of tunnels construction. We believe that having MWD as a neighbor is an existential threat to the future of the Delta and Delta communities.”

Delta Tunnels opponents note that after nine years and a quarter of a billion dollars spent on the proposal, Delta Tunnel backers have still has not produced a legally acceptable plan that can pass environmental standards. On October 30, 2015 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the Draft Environmental Impact Report a failing grade of “Inadequate” due to lack of science about the impacts on the Delta ecosystem and endangered species.

For more information on the Restore the Delta visit www.restorethedelta.org.