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Appendix C
Committee on Sustainable Water
and Environmental Management
in the California Bay-Delta
STATEMENT OF TASK
At the request of Congress and the Departments of the Interior and
Commerce, a committee of independent experts will be formed to review
the scientific basis of actions that have been and could be taken to simul-
taneously achieve both an environmentally sustainable Bay-Delta and a
reliable water supply. In order to balance the need to inform near-term
decisions with the need for an integrated view of water and environmental
management challenges over the longer-term, the committee will undertake
two main projects over a term of two years resulting in two reports.
First, on March 18, 2010, the committee issued a report focusing on
scientific questions, assumptions, and conclusions underlying water-man-
agement alternatives in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) Biological
Opinion on Coordinated Operations of the Central Valley Project and State
Water Project (Dec. 15, 2008) and the National Marine Fisheries Service's
(NMFS) Biological Opinion on the Long-Term Central Valley Project and
State Water Project Operations Criteria and Plan (June 4, 2009). This re-
view will consider the following questions.
Are there any "reasonable and prudent alternatives" (RPAs), including
but not limited to alternatives considered but not adopted by FWS (e.g., po-
tential entrainment index and the delta smelt behavioral model) and NMFS
(e.g., bubble-curtain technology and engineering solutions to reduce diver-
sion of emigrating juvenile salmonids to the interior and southern Delta
instead of towards the sea), that, based on the best available scientific data
and analysis, (1) would have lesser impacts to other water uses as compared
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226 SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE DELTA
to those adopted in the biological opinions, and (2) would provide equal or
greater protection for the relevant fish species and their designated critical
habitat given the uncertainties involved?
Are there provisions in the FWS and NMFS biological opinions to
resolve potential incompatibilities between the opinions with regard to ac-
tions that would benefit one listed species while causing negative impacts on
another, including, but not limited to, prescriptions that: (1) provide spring
flows in the Delta in dry years primarily to meet water quality and outflow
objectives pursuant to Water Board Decision-1641 and conserve upstream
storage for summertime cold water pool management for anadromous fish
Second, in approximately November 2011, the committee will issue a second
report on how to most effectively incorporate science and adaptive management
concepts into holistic programs for management and restoration of the Bay-Delta.
This advice, to the extent possible, should be coordinated in a way that best
informs the Bay Delta Conservation Plan development process. The review will
include tasks such as the following:
· I dentify the factors that may be contributing to the decline of federally listed
species, and as appropriate, other significant at-risk species in the Delta. To
the extent practicable, rank the factors contributing to the decline of salmon,
steelhead, delta smelt, and green sturgeon in order of their likely impact on
the survival and recovery of the species, for the purpose of informing future
conservation actions. This task would specifically seek to identify the effects
of stressors other than those considered in the biological opinions and their
RPAs (e.g., pesticides, ammonia discharges, invasive species) on federally
listed and other at-risk species in the Delta, and their effects on baseline
conditions. The committee would consider the extent to which addressing
stressors other than water exports might result in lesser restrictions on
water supply. The committee's review should include existing scientific in-
formation, such as that in the NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center's
paper on decline of Central Valley fall-run Chinook salmon, and products
developed through the pelagic organism decline studies (including the Na-
tional Center for Ecosystem Analysis and Synthesis reviews and analyses
that are presently under way).
· Identify future water-supply and delivery options that reflect proper consid-
eration of climate change and compatibility with objectives of maintaining a
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APPENDIX C 227
species; and (2) provide fall flows during wet years in the Delta to benefit
Delta smelt, while also conserving carryover storage to benefit next year's
winter-run cohort of salmon in the event that the next year is dry?
To the extent that time permits, the committee would consider the ef-
fects of other stressors (e.g., pesticides, ammonia discharges, invasive spe-
cies) on federally listed and other at-risk species in the Bay-Delta. Details
of this task are the first item discussed as part of the committee's second
report, below, and to the degree that they cannot be addressed in the first
report they will be addressed in the second.
sustainable Bay-Delta ecosystem. To the extent that water flows through the
Delta system contribute to ecosystem structure and functioning, explore flow
options that would contribute to sustaining and restoring desired, attainable
ecosystem attributes, while providing for urban, industrial, and agricultural
uses of tributary, mainstem, and Delta waters, including for drinking water.
· Identify gaps in available scientific information and uncertainties that
constrain an ability to identify the factors described above. This part of
the activity should take into account the Draft Central Valley Salmon and
Steelhead recovery plans,1 particularly the scientific basis for identification
of threats to the species, proposed recovery standards, and the actions
identified to achieve recovery.
· Advise, based on scientific information and experience elsewhere, what
degree of restoration of the Delta system is likely to be attainable, given ad-
equate resources. Identify metrics that can be used by resource managers
to measure progress toward restoration goals.
The specific details of the tasks to be addressed in this second report will likely be
refined after consultation among the departments of the Interior and Commerce,
Congress, and the National Research Council, considering stakeholder input,
and with the goal of building on, rather than duplicating, efforts already being
adequately undertaken by others.
1National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 2009b. Draft Central Valley
Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Plan Available on line at http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/recovery/
centralvalleyplan.htm
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