FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – A bipartisan group made up of elected officials and agricultural leaders from areas including Tulare, Kings, Fresno, Madera was voicing disgust over the California Water Commission’s decision.
Valley cities and water agencies were pursuing funding for the proposed San Joaquin River reservoir of 1.3 million acre-feet to be sited above Millerton Lake. The SJVWIA – applied for more than $1 billion in State Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP) funds made available under California Proposition 1, a bond approved in November 2014 that includes $2.7 billion specifically made available to help develop major water storage projects, in particular large dams and reservoirs.
They say the California Water Commission action Thursday rejected the San Joaquin Valley Water Infrastructure Authority’s (SJVWIA) appeal seeking correct scoring on the Temperance Flat Project public benefit ratio required for the proposed reservoir development to receive state bond funding.
Reviewers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Water Commission’s own staff, declared Temperance Flat would have no benefit to environmental habitat, in particular San Joaquin River spring-run Chinook salmon.
On Thursday, the Water Commissioners voted 4-3 to uphold the staff’s habitat-finding recommendation. Among those voting in the project’s favor were the two San Joaquin Valley commissioners, Joe Del Bosque and Maria Herrera. The action guaranteed the SJVWIA’s Temperance Flat application would fall well short of achieving a 1.0 public benefits ratio score required by the commission, although the project could be eligible for $171 million in bond funding for other recognized benefits under the commission’s formula.
“This is a sad day in our valley’s history,” Steve Worthley, Tulare County Board of Supervisors Chairman and SJVWIA President, said of the Water Commission’s decision. Worthley said capturing Sierra Nevada runoff now routinely lost in periodic flood releases would create tremendous water management flexibility and represent solutions to the San Joaquin Valley’s water supply crisis, sustainability for state-mandated groundwater sustainability and great benefits for the environment.
Mario Santoyo, the Executive Director for the San Joaquin Water Infrastructure Authority called it more than a slap in the face, but a “means by which to punish the Central Valley.”
They vow to continue to appeal, Santoyo said he will meet with the board, and figure out other directions to go, or possible negotiations with Governor Jerry Brown.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
Statement from FWA CEO on California Water Commission Decision on Temperance Flat Project: May 4, 2018
The following statement is from Jason Phillips, Chief Executive Officer of Friant Water Authority, on the California Water Commission’s determination of public benefits for the Temperance Flat project application:
Yesterday, after three days of deliberations regarding the benefits of storage projects applications submitted for funding under Proposition 1, the California Water Commission decided that the Temperance Flat project application would only be eligible for a maximum of $171.3 million in public funding.
It’s disappointing to see that all the hard work and effort assembling the Temperance Flat project application did not result in a more favorable finding from the California Water Commission for the project’s public benefits. We understand that the constraints of Proposition 1 and associated regulations gave the commission and its staff an unenviable task: to evaluate storage projects not by direct water supply benefits, but by other values. Nevertheless, this outcome is not what we’d hoped for.
The annual water shortfall in the San Joaquin Valley is nothing short of a crisis and there is no time to waste in identifying solutions for the near and long term. We believe additional storage, such as at Temperance Flat, could still be part of a portfolio of actions to help the valley’s communities and business find long-term sustainability.
Friant Water Authority and other water agencies in the San Joaquin Valley will continue to evaluate the feasibility of the Temperance Flat project as a water supply project without Proposition 1 funding.
