Distorted Water

8/14/2019 Distorted Water

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A publication by Congressman Devin Nunes.www.nunes.house.gov

Clarifying facts to combat the twisted views of radical environmentalists...

Distorted Water


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Devin Nunes

Member of Congress

Sincerely,

Water Terminology

Dear Friends,

During the debate in Congress concerning Cali- fornias government-imposed drought, I haveheard a host of excuses as to why San Joaquin Valley

residents should not be given immediate help. Many

of the most troubling statements about our region

have been posted on my YouTube Channel or are dis-

cussed in my blog. However, I prepared this docu-

ment because it is important for us to understand the

distortions used against us and to respond to them

with facts.

Central Valley ProjeCt

The federal Central Valley Project (CVP) delivers water

from reservoirs in the wet northern parts of the state to

the arid southern parts of the state. Twenty dams and

reservoirs, eleven hydroelectric power plants, and 500

miles of canals and aqueducts make up the infrastructure

of the project.

State Water ProjeCt

The California State Water Project, commonly known as

the SWP, is one of the worlds largest publicly built and

operated water and power conveyance system. There are

701 miles of canals and pipelines, ve hydroelectric facili-

ties and 34 dams and reservoirs.


aCre Foot

It is dened by the volume of one acre of

surface area to a depth of one foot. This is

approximately 325,851 U.S. gallons. As a rule

of thumb in U.S. water management, one acre-

foot is the planned water usage of a suburban

family household annually.

the Delta

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is an expansive

inland river delta and estuary in northern California. It is

formed at the western edge of the Central Valley by the

conuence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and

lies just east of where the rivers enter the upper arm of San

Francisco Bay.

Delta PumPS

Located near the City of Tracy in the southern end of the

Delta: The Jones Pumping Plant is owned by the federal

government and the Banks Pumping Plant is owned by the

state of California.

Mapof California

waterinfrastruCture


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FaCt: Quite the reverse is true 76% of Delta water is used bythe environment.

In an average year, the entire state of California receives about 200

million acre feet of water through precipitation. More than 50%

evaporates into the atmosphere, percolates into the soil, or is used

by native vegetation.

The remaining water, approximately 82 million acre feet, ows

into rivers. Of this amount, California dedicates 48% to the en-

vironment the single largest use of water in California. The re-

maining water is used by agriculture (41%) and cities (11%).

It is important to note that f w c cs

Delta, 76% is ushed to the ocean for environmental reasons .

Bay Area water users, combined with users in Central and South-

ern California, consume 18% of Delta water. Delta cities and farm-

ers use the remaining 6%.

FaCt: Federal water deliveries were 10% for 2009

There is no hoarded water being held by any San Joaquin

Valley agency. In 2009, Westlands Water District had hopes

that their claim for 270,000 acre feet of water would be hon-

ored. However, this water was not guaranteed to be delivered.

Westside farmers have had to make up for lost surface water deliv-

eries by pumping groundwater or negotiating transfers. Ground

water pumping and transfers were used to offset Delta water losses

for 2009. However, groundwater is an exhaustible resource and

transfers are not reliable - both are temporary stopgaps. In addi

tion, groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley is of a much lower

quality. Not all crops can be irrigated with groundwater. Despitethe best efforts of local farmers and governments to mitigate for

lost water, shortages resulted in 500,000 acres of farmland being

fallowed. This represents a land mass the size of Rhode Island.

FaCt: The pumps are turned off from December through July

and do not operate at full capacity the rest of the year thanks togovernment decisions.

The state and federal water projects were built for year-round op-

eration. Since two-thirds of Californias water is located in the

north and two-thirds of the population is in the south, it is essentia

that water deliveries continue year-round.

The entire system of dams and canals composing the state and

federal water projects were specically built for the purpose o

balancing wet and dry years.

The San Luis Reservoir, just south of the Delta, is a key compo-

nent of Californias water conveyance infrastructure holding jus

over two million acre feet of water. It has no natural streams and

is lled by Delta pumping during the fall and winter. It is importan

to note that water stored at the San Luis Reservoir is used to supply

the San Joaquin Valley, as well as Southern California particu

larly during periods of signicant drought when pumping may be

reduced.

In summary, farmers do not make planting decisions in July when

they may get water. They make them in the early winter. Farmer

have to decide what they are going to plant based on the expected

A depiction of Delta water use.

An area the size of Rhode Island has been transformed into desert due

to the government-imposed drought.

Distorted

Water

DIStortIon: The pumps are on.

DIStortIon: The Westside received 80% of the water it

needed in 2009. They were even hoarding water from 2008.

DIStortIon: Agriculture uses 80% of Californias water.

Summer 2005 Summer 2009


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water deliveries for the next year. The farmers then go to their

bankers with that information to secure loans to purchase seed,

fertilizer, etc. The farmers plant in the early spring and need the

water at that time. If you do not have water in the spring, you cant

plant. Therefore, water deliveries in July are not enough to save

rural communities there isnt anything to water because the crops

were never planted.

Environmental activists cannot dispute that the Delta pumps were

shut off between December and July and will be again every year

for the foreseeable future unless Congress acts.

FaCt: This statement is disputed. Approximately 76% of thewater that transits the Delta ows into the ocean.

Do environmentalists really expect us to believe that increasing

ows will restore these species? Even NOAA, the federal agency

who authored the infamous killer whale biological opinion, ad-

mitted during Congressional testimony that salmon and other spe-

cies are impacted more profoundly by ocean conditions.

When the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) was

enacted in 1992, environmental ows were increased by 1.2 mil-

lion acre feet. Since then, biological decisions on the Delta have

raised this number to 3.4 million. Meanwhile, none of the threat-

ened or endangered species have recovered. In fact, since CVPIA

became law more species have been listed not less. Common sense

demands we try something new.

FaCt: While the past few years have been declared droughts

Northern Sierra precipitation for 2009 was 93% of average accord-

ing to the State of California. This is where Delta water originates

the water that serves San Joaquin Valley residents, as well a

Californians further south.

Water shortages in central and southern California are not uncom

mon both regions are historically dry and can be desert-like

However, the construction of our state and federal water projects

allowed reliable water deliveries despite unfavorable natural con

ditions. This has been true even during catastrophic droughts of

our recent past.

Today, we are experiencing a drought that is mild in comparison to

many we have already survived. Overall, Californias state-wide

precipitation for 2009 was 81% of normal. By comparison, dur

ing 1977s drought - the driest year in state history - it was 45%

of normal and in the 1991 drought - the fth year of a protracted

drought - it was 76%. Indeed, during late-season rain events this

year a number of reservoirs associated with the state and federa

water projects were forced to spill water as they reached capacityMassive water ows passed through the Delta but could not be

stored in the San Luis Reservoir because the pumps were off.

While new storage and conveyance systems are needed to meet

growing needs and to improve reliability of the system, the curren

crisis is directly related to government decisions to withhold water

(pumping restrictions).

The bottom line: The Delta pumps must operate year-long if the

state and federal water projects are to serve the people of Central

The California Department of Water Resources produced this graphof Northern Sierra precipitation. The blue line represents cumulative

monthly precipitation during a wet year (1982), the red and brown

lines represent major droughts (1976 and 1923) and the black dotted

line represents average rainfall. This year, the green line, was only

slightly below average.

This graph depicts Delta pumping, outow and fshery conditions. It

shows no correlation between pumping and fsh populations.

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DIStortIon: The pumps are the reason the Delta smelt,

salmon, and other species are in decline.

DIStortIon: A drought is to blame for water shortages, not

the Enangered Species Act.


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Salmon Disaster

Payments

3 payments of $500,000

213 payments over $100,000

Total payments for 2007-2009

$230 million

and Southern California.

FaCt: This statement is false.

In order to come to the conclusion that water is over-promised,you have to rst accept the false notion that water is only used

once. Water is used, processed and reused many times as it travels

through the states water conveyance system. The only water that

is not recycled in California is the water that is ushed into the

ocean for environmental purposes.

FaCt: According to the Pacic Coast Federation of Fisherman,there are approximately 3,000 shermen in California and Oregon.

There is no reliable data that suggests these individuals are all un-

employed nor is there reliable data that suggests as many as 23,000

workers have lost their jobs.

With the American people not buying the policy of protecting sh

at the expense of families, liberals are now touting a new argu-

ment. Congress cant restore the ow of water because it would

hurt shermen. This simply isnt true.

Furthermore, despite limited evidence of devastation more than

$200 million has been spent by taxpayers to bail out shermen

over the past two years - more money per recipient than Hurricane

Katrina survivors.

Indeed, thanks to an earmark by liberal leaders in Congress, each

of 1,722 permit holding salmon shermen received generous pay-

ments from the federal government in 2008 - $170 million worth.

More than a thousand businesses also received payments. This

large sum was provided despite the fact that the total economic

impact of the closed salmon run was estimated at $82 million

(according to the Congressional Research Service, the economic

impact was actually $57.9 million, but we will accept the higher

number for the sake of argument).

A unique form of disaster relief, the salmon shermen bailout

money replaced 100% of shing income based on the their bes

recent year, resulting in six gure payouts for many. This unprec

edented bailout came on top of a $60 million salmon industry bail-

out in 2007.

While I believe there are serious problems with the sheries off the

coast of California, I reject the claims of radical environmental-

ists and their proxies in the shing industry. Delta pumping is no

responsible for the shery collapse (see chart on opposite page)

And while there are likely commercial and recreation shermen

who have suffered as a result of these problems, the magnitudeboth in economic terms and human cost does not begin to compare

with the suffering in the San Joaquin Valley where nearly 40,000

people are out of work, and 500,000 thousand acres of farmland

have become desert.

A nal point, the unemployment on the North Coast of California

the supposed area of great economic distress due to shery col

lapse, is below the state average.

FaCt: There are several compelling facts that prove the originof our crisis to be Democratic lawmakers (see Water Crisis Time-

line on next page).

The rst major blow against San Joaquin Valley farming occurred

in 1992 with the passage of the Central Valley Project Improve-

ment Act. The bill was authored by Democrat Congressman

George Miller, who was Chairman of the Resources Committee

at the time, and folded into a larger piece of legislation where it

passed with veto proof majorities in the House and Senate. At the

San Luis Resevior reached its lowest recorded level in 2009 due to

Delta pumping restrictions.

DIStortIon: Water has been over-promised to farmers.

DIStortIon: Fishermen are out of work because of Delta

pumping. More than 23,000 jobs and $1.4 billion has been lost

to the economy of California due to termination of commercial

and recreational salmon shing.

DIStortIon: Republicans are also to blame they sup-

ported/signed laws that hurt the valley.


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time, Democrats controlled 270 House seats and 57 Senate seats.

CVPIA diverted more than a million acre feet of water away from

communities south of the Delta.

In addition, Congressman George Miller has admitted to a cen-

tral role in a host of lawsuits that have devastated the San Joaquin

Valley. These lawsuits lead to biological opinions that are seri-ously awed - denying entire regions of California access to wa-

ter. Democrats were also instrumental in the passage of the San

Joaquin River Settlement earlier this year, which in time will dry

up communities on the east side of the valley.

FaCt: According to a May 2009 study conducted by the Univer-sity of California, Davis, 35,285 jobs and $1.6 billion in economic

revenue have been lost as a result of the man-made drought.

Far more jobs and economic activity are at risk. The overall unem-ployment rate in the San Joaquin Valley (15%) is far higher than

the rest of California (12%). The unemployment in water deprived

communities is still higher (36%). Farmers, local governments,

small businesses and unemployed workers all cite water shortages

as the predominate factor. In sharp contrast, each of the North

State counties claiming catastrophic unemployment due to closed

sheries are experiencing unemployment rates below the state av-

erage (Mendocino 10.1%, Humboldt 10.3%, Sonoma 9.9%, Del

Norte 11.9%, Marin 8%).

FaCt: Radicals have taken control of the environmental move-ment including organizations that are viewed as mainstream

by the public.

Patrick Moore, a founding member of Greenpeace and environ-

mental activist, recently said that many environmental leaders

have abandoned science and are following agendas that have little

to do with saving the Earth. Moore continues to explain that radi

cal activists have anti-human agendas.

There are countless examples of radicalism run amok in the envi-

ronmental community. While most of these groups push their anti

human policies through Congress and the courts, some are more

direct. For example, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and EarthLiberation Front (ELF) are identied by the FBI as terrorist orga

nizations. In 2001, ELF was named one of our nations most active

extremist groups and a top terrorist threat. Despite their notoriety

among our nations top law enforcement agencies, these organiza

tions are virtually invisible in America. So too is their association

with organizations like Greenpeace, which has helped nance acts

of eco-terrorism according to federal prosecutors.

Acts of terrorism are not the only indicator of extremism among

environmental groups today. The modern environmental move

ment is a threat to public health and safety in other ways. For ex

ample, radicals are working to ban the chlorination of water. This

backwards policy is being advocated despite the fact that it would

result in epidemics of cholera and other deadly diseases around

the world.

Environmentalists also persist in opposing the use of the lifesaving

chemical DDT. This chemical was used to protect the American

people from malaria until the 1960s but was banned following a

public campaign led by activist Rachel Carson. She has since been

recognized as the founder of the modern environmental move-

ment.

Despite the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) has re

jected the scientic basis for banning DDT, environmentalists likeAl Gore cling to the ban for political rather than scientic reasons

Meanwhile, malaria is an epidemic and global health threat. There

are 500 million cases of the preventable disease every year.

Food line in Mendota California.

DIStortIon: Farm jobs have increased during the past

year.

DIStortIon: Radicals are not in control of the

environmental movement. They are the exception.


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A publication by Congressman Devin Nunes.www nunes house gov

www.nunes.house.gov

113 North Church Street

Suite 208

Visalia, CA 93291

559-733-3861

1013 Longworth

House Ofce Building

Washington, DC 20515

202-225-2523

264 Clovis Avenue

Suite 206

Clovis, CA 93612

559-323-5235

Documents

Distorted Water