California Water Users Sue Federal Agencies

The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta and the Kern County Water Agency (KCWA) today joined other water users in California by filing suit against federal agencies challenging regulatory restrictions placed on the state's water operations. The severe water supply restrictions have resulted from federal agency actions designed to protect the Delta smelt, a federally protected endangered species that lives in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The restrictions have greatly reduced water supplies for 25 million Californians and millions of acres of productive San Joaquin Valley farmland. "The actions by federal agencies are greatly exacerbating California's ongoing water supply crisis and doing significant damage to farmers, farm workers, residents and the overall economy of our state," said Michael Boccadoro, a spokesperson for the Coalition. "Farmers are facing the loss of crops and fallowed fields. Additionally, tens of thousands of farm workers have lost their jobs because federal agencies have not done what they are required to do. People are suffering because federal agencies are not doing their job and addressing the real issues." The lawsuit focuses on the failure of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to use the best available scientific data when determining the effects of water operations and other activities on the threatened Delta smelt. The federal agencies continue to ignore scientific data that point to a growing list of other factors or "stressors" that are impacting the Bay-Delta and the native fish that live there. Federal regulators have done nothing to address predation by non-native bass, habitat destruction, expanding wastewater and storm water discharges or the growing level of pesticides and other contaminants released into the estuary...Press Release