From News Line, a daily compilation of farm water news distributed to CFWC members and others upon request. To receive News Line, click here.

Delta plan threatens water rights, supplies

Coalition response…Opposition to planned water system upgrades and ecosystem improvements in the Delta puts the water supply for more than 25 million Californians at risk. It also threatens huge swaths of farmland in the San Joaquin Valley that is the source for much of California’s fruit and vegetable crops during certain times of the year.

Years of water uncertainty caused by drought and environmental restrictions, as well as a doubling of California’s population from a time when much of our existing water system was built, tells us that the time is right to invest in our future. As President John F. Kennedy said at the groundbreaking for San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos in 1962, “Nothing could be more disastrous for this country than for the citizens of one part of the state to feel that everything they have is theirs and that it should not be shared with the other citizens of the state. That is the way to stand still.”

Water rights for people in the Delta, or anywhere else for that matter, cannot be impacted by new projects. That’s the law. Standing in the way of others who want to invest in tomorrow’s more efficient water supply system is contrary to what Kennedy told us 50 years ago. And that surely is the way to stand still today.