Water Supply Reliability Key Topic of Delta Stewardship Council Workshop
ACWA Executive Director Timothy Quinn will speak on a water supply reliability panel at a Delta Stewardship Council workshop slated for tomorrow and Friday in Sacramento.
On April 8, ACWA submitted a joint letter to the council expressing “grave concern” over its latest draft of the Delta Plan, saying the plan far exceeds the council’s authority and would steer the process away from success. Nearly 60 agencies and organizations signed the letter, including water agencies within, above and below the Delta, as well as regional and statewide agricultural and business organizations.
“We all realize the tremendous stake we have in the Delta Stewardship Council process. Our commitment to this effort has not diminished,” Quinn said. “Because we want this process to succeed, we felt it necessary to express strong objections to the direction the council seems to be heading with this latest draft. We are committed to working with the council to restore stakeholder confidence and return the focus of the plan to the Delta.”
The water supply reliability panel, continued from the council’s first workshop in March, is slated for Friday morning.
Other topics to be discussed during the two-day workshop include land use, flood protection, ecosystem restoration, and the interaction between agriculture and the ecosystem on the coequal goals.
The meeting is the second of three public workshops designed to allow stakeholders and experts to recommend regulations and policies to be included in the Delta Plan. Comments received at this week’s workshop will contribute to the development of the third staff draft of the Delta Plan. That document is set to be released on April 22.
In all, four drafts will be released before the plan undergoes an environmental review in June. It is expected that the final Delta Plan, set to be adopted by Jan. 1, 2012, as directed by the Delta Reform Act of 2009, will look dramatically different from the initial drafts. The plan will be a major step toward furthering the state’s co-equal goals and will be used to guide actions impacting the Delta.
The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn in downtown Sacramento. For details, visit www.deltacouncil.ca.gov.
