FRESNO, Calif. -- The future of the Delta and the stability of much of California's water supply could be decided this year. That's when an environmental lawsuit that threatens to shut down Delta water pumping will be considered.
Unlike other legal actions taken to protect the failing Delta environment, this lawsuit is based on the public trust doctrine, an ancient legal concept that attempts to broadly balance competing interests.
Environmental groups hope that by using the public trust doctrine, it will force water regulators to consider the overall environment, recreational, aesthetics and other public values as well as economic interests in deciding water policy.
Michael Jackson, a lawyer for the groups that filed the lawsuit, is concerned that trying to save individual species of fish one at a time is not the best way to protect the Delta environment.
However, Jason Peltier, Westlands Water District deputy general manager, says environmentalists should not focus just on the pumps as the sole cause of Delta degradation. He's right; there may be other causes of the loss of fish such as invasive species and pollution from agricultural and urban runoff.
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While we support a broader consideration of the entire Delta ecosystem and all of the public benefits it offers, this latest legal action could do major economic harm in the middle of a recession.
Limits on pumping already have been imposed by the courts. But the curbs are not sufficient to satisfy the groups that filed the lawsuit. They argue that the Delta ecosystem is collapsing rapidly and that more drastic action is necessary.
Perhaps, but we urge the court to carefully consider the enormous negative impact that is likely to result if the Delta water pumps are shut down.
A water policy that broadly considers all of the public interests in protecting the Delta makes sense. It also is likely that water shipments from the Delta will have to be diminished.
If environmental, recreational, agricultural and urban interests truly want a long-term solution to California's water problems, they are going to have to work together to significantly increase water storage in new or enlarged reservoirs.
That is the only way to assure adequate supplies of freshwater to meet the state's urban, agriculture and environmental needs and save the Delta.
