For Immediate Release 2/6/20
Contact:
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, 2094792053, barbara@restorethedelta.org
Tim Stroshane, 510-847-7556, spillwayguy@gmail.com
STOCKTON, CA – Restore the Delta has submitted comments on Governor Newsom’s Draft Water Resilience Portfolio. The portfolio was developed in a process that included public meetings and comments gathered during his first year in the governor’s office. The draft report was written by various departments within the Natural Resources Agency of the Newsom Administration.
Everyone in California has a stake in this plan.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta said:
“SF Bay-Delta advocates are not seeing many of the good ideas they brought to the table. Also, the plan is mute on strategies to help environmental justice communities adjust to new climate change burdens. We proposed a water resilience strategy that serves our children and future generations in a more equitable manner than this plan. We plan to keep fighting for that.”
Tim Stroshane, policy analyst, Restore the Delta notes that climate science and subsidence are not thoroughly addressed in the new proposal.
“The Draft Water Resilience Portfolio ignores data from DWR scientists in the state’s “Fourth Climate Change Assessment” when formulating water strategies for our state.”
On subsidence, Stroshane added:
“The portfolio report ignored land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley that undermines the Friant Kern Canal and the California Aqueduct/San Luis Canal. These subsidence problems pose supply and flow reductions for state and federal water contractors, and for which repairs and groundwater regulation will be urgently needed to stabilize the problems. Yet the report fails to include this work as part of the investments needed to make the state’s water systems more resilient.”
Full Comments here;
http://restorethedelt.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/20200205-RTD-Comments-Water-Resilience-Portfolio.pdf