ACWA e-News for December 28, 2011

The endangered Delta smelt population rebounded this year to its highest level in a decade, according to a state survey released last week.

The Department of Fish and Game survey showed the tiny fish is significantly more abundant than in 2010 and at its highest population level since 2001.

The Delta Stewardship Council will hold field hearings throughout the state in January to take public comment and input on its Delta Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report.

A draft report on quantifying the public benefits of water storage projects is available for public comment.

Titled “Description and Screening of Potential Tools and Methods to Quantify Public Benefits of Water Storage Projects,” the report examines five benefit areas: ecosystem improvement, water quality, flood control, emergency response and recreation.

The Department of Water Resources and the Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Task Force are releasing alternative water conservation measures to reduce urban demand. The proposed alternative "best management practices" (BMPs) are intended to guide water users in how to operate more efficiently in order to better conserve water.

President Barack Obama today signed legislation providing for the distribution of hydroelectric power from Hoover Dam for the next half-century.

HR 470, the Hoover Dam Power Allocation Act of 2011, reauthorizes Hoover Dam to continue distributing power through 2067, and sets aside 5% of its electricity for use by new entities, including Native American tribes, irrigation districts, electric cooperatives, and other entities that previously lacked access.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club are suing the Bureau of Land Management to prevent gas drilling known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on federal lands. The lawsuit asserts that the bureau leased more than 2,500 acres in Monterey and Fresno counties to oil company representatives without doing a thorough analysis of the potential environmental impacts of fracking.

To cultivate and ensure meaningful public involvement and transparency in the Bay Delta Conservation Planning process, state and federal agencies proposed a number of modifications to the BDCP Memorandum of Agreement today.