Water plans on pause

Last Thursday (June 7), the federal district court in Fresno ordered all water transfers planned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority to be halted.

In February, the court ruled that the agencies failed to adequately disclose, avoid or mitigate impacts from major water transfers in environmental documents that are part of their 10-Year Water Transfer Program.

The documents’ flaws—specifically related to climate change, groundwater and the giant garter snake—were discovered by Chico’s AquAlliance and other organizations. They must be fixed before moving forward.

“[Y]ou can’t extract massive amounts of water from some place and not hurt other people and the environment,” AquAlliance Executive Director Barbara Vlamis told the CN&R in March.