For Immediate Release: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta   Drought Barriers to Push Delta Closer to Collapse: Threaten Salmon, No Restrictions on Mega-Farms   Stockton, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build water export Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms, salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today responded to Gov. Brown’s latest drought measures. “Governor Brown has had two responses of opposite extremes to the drought crisis,” said executive director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. “The first response is to place the largest burden of conservation on urban water users.  His second response is to push the Delta further toward ecological collapse [...]

Articles • Temporary urgency, permanent extinction? • While Westlands Drives the Regulatory Process… • Would Delta Barriers Really be a Last Resort? • Curtailing water use during drought? Temporary urgency, permanent extinction? By: Tim Stroshane and Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla Releasing his latest Delta water quality order late on March 5th, Tom Howard, executive director of the State Water Resources Control Board, added a loophole allowing state and federal water contractors reliant on Delta exports to tell the state and federal water project operators they need more health and safety water supplies. State and federal operators must merely inform the State Water Board they will export more from the Delta to meet those claims for water. This is a loophole you can [...]

Media coverage from February 18-19, featuring Restore the Delta and supporters:   News 10, watch or read: Central Valley farmers are demanding access to more water from the Delta Feb. 19, 2015 News10/KXTV "…But, those who campaign under the banner "Restore the Delta" say for them, it's also about the people. "We're talking about the fish because the fish supply more jobs than this small area of California farming," California Water Impact Network lawyer Michael Jackson said. "It's not a matter of fish versus farmer. In this particular circumstance, it's farmer versus farmer."… … However, people who live near the Delta are asking, "what about us?" Those residents worry that as freshwater leaves the Delta, salt water will come in. The state limits how much [...]

“We can follow the example of those who remembered that the role of an activist is not to navigate systems of oppressive power with as much integrity as possible, but rather to confront and take down those systems.” — Derrick Jensen Articles • Navigate or Confront • How drought management plays out in the Delta • Chipping away at all watershed protections Navigate or Confront By: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla This week, Tim Stroshane finished preparing Restore the Delta’s first Protest response to the State Water Resources Control Board, specifically the Board’s January 27, 2015 Notice of Temporary Urgency Change Petition (TUCP). The TUCP is the Board’s decision to modify D-1641 for the months of February and March, weakening Delta outflow standards, [...]

Articles • If it ain’t broken… • History repeating itself… • Not Really Fixing It If it ain’t broken… By Stina Va Local and state Delta agencies continue to disagree about current state efforts to change priorities and funding for Delta levees. Currently, two efforts are under way: The Delta Stewardship Council is developing a “levee investment strategy” to implement its Delta Plan levee strategy, and the Delta Protection Commission is studying the feasibility of creating a Delta levee assessment district to fund levees that may not be covered by state or federal liability. The Council seeks to prioritize levees for investment, and the Commission hopes to create a funding base to ensure funds are available to invest. But local [...]

Will the State Water Board Tear Up Paper Water? Unprecedented Demand on Senior Water Rights Holders Ignores State has Overpromised Water 5.5 Times Over; Westlands & Kern Mega-Growers Continue Overpumping Stockton, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build Twin Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today responded to the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB) draft order issued Wednesday night demanding water diversion data from every riparian and pre-1914 water right holder in the Delta’s Central Valley watershed, starting March 1st until, well, whenever. “This is an unprecedented move by the Board’s Division of Water Rights,” said Restore the Delta Executive Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. “The Board has [...]

“Not every dream grows on every land, so you got to watch out!” — Israelmore Ayivor Articles • What do we want? Water! When do we want it? Now! • California still overachieving at water consumption and underachieving at water conservation • Drought of ideas What do we want? Water! When do we want it? Now! Recently we got an inside peek at a rural Kern County water district’s decision whether to participate in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. The Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District was asked by Kern County Water Agency, the State Water Project’s second largest water service contractor, whether the District would participate in the Tunnels project or not. In addition to its role as a state water [...]

“. . .Who lined himself with hope, Eating the air on promise of supply, Flattering himself in project of a power Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts . . .” ― Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, I, iii Articles Not BDCP neutral The odd case of the Water Commission Drought preparedness – Not Not BDCP neutral In order for the water bond to be BDCP neutral, as its Delta legislative supporters insist that it is, it would need to do more that ensure that no bond money can be spent on tunnels and that no water contractors can get credit for any Delta habitat activities. In order to be BDCP neutral, the water bond would need to ensure [...]

“This is the way the world ends; not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.” ― Amanda Hocking, Hollowland Articles BDCP is NOT dead How MWD proposes to make this pencil out How the Water Bond plays into this Wringing more water out of the Delta Reducing flow for the SF Bay-Delta estuary through publicly funded water transfers BDCP is NOT dead On September 23, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) got an update on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) from Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin, Delta Stewardship Council Chairman Randy Fiorini, and MWD’s own Bay-Delta Committee. Cowin told MWD that DWR is making progress on three fronts: [...]