Newhall Ranch's Water Plan Means The Sacramento Delta Will Die Of Thirst

Santa Clara River at the site of the proposed 21,000 unit Newhall Ranch Project photo by Lynne Plambeck

On August 4th the State Water Resources Control Board approved a report on flow criteria for the Sacramento Delta. This study was conducted as a requirement of SBX7, the comprehensive water package passed by the State legislature last November. The report implicated over-pumping as a major reason for the decline of the Sacramento Delta ecosystem.

The Sierra Club has long been concerned about the amount of water pumped from the Sacramento River for delivery south through the state water project for two reasons. First, the Delta ecosystem is dying. Fish species from the tiny Delta Smelt to the iconic Chinook salmon are going extinct. At certain times so much water is pumped that the Old and Middle Rivers run backwards. Migrating fish then swim towards the huge water pumps and destruction rather than towards their spawning grounds.

The other end of the equation is urban sprawl and climate change. Over-pumping water from the Sacramento Delta feeds unsustainable urban sprawl in Southern California. Mega newtowns like Newhall Ranch and the other thousands of housing units in the Santa Clarita Valley must have this water in order to build. Regional sources are inadequate.

Water from Northern California is pumped through some 400 miles of concrete aqueduct before it arrives in Southern California. Many pumps must help it on its way, the largest of which are at the Edmonston pumping station where the water is lifted over the Tehachipi Mountains. The state water project is the biggest single user of energy in California with estimates as high as 20% of all energy in the state going to move water.

The carbon footprint, i.e. greenhouse gas generation to move all that water is huge.

So if your community is supplied by state water in Southern California or thinking about adding housing that is dependent onit, just remember what John Muir said - 'Everything is linked to everything else.'

Wasting water or using it inefficiently in Southern California hurts migrating salmon and other endangered species in the Sacramento Delta. It may even lead to their extinction. When you choose to water a lawn rather than using drought tolerant native plants, you are participating in the extinction of these species. Building new housing projects like the urban sprawl in Santa Clarita adds to the destruction of the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta ecosystem.

A recent article in the Southern Sierran touted the availability of state water for all the housing in Santa Clarita. With this new flow criteria report and previous biological opinions regarding the Delta fish species, conservationists can only find such a statement misses the mark. Bringing water from Northern California to support urban sprawl in Southern California is no longer sustainable or acceptable. It is causing the extinction of animals that we care about. Extinction is forever.

Auto oriented urban sprawl projects promoted with water from Northern California are also a huge source of air pollution and greenhouse gases.

These are some of the reasons why the Sierra Club is opposed to Newhall Ranch and other sprawl projects proposed for Santa Clarita and elsewhere.

The previous article also described bringing water from the Kern River to support urban sprawl in Santa Clarita. Activists in Bakersfield are trying hard to get the water back in their river so that it flows again. After decades of work to reduce or stop a similar controversial transfer by DWP that dewatered the Owens River and destroyed the Owens Valley, one would hope that Sierrans would see through such hype. Dewatering other watersheds and rivers is not an answer supported by conservationists.

The Sierra Club has worked hard in Santa Clarita to try to halt or at least change some of these poor landuse practices. The Club helped make water law when it won an Appellate Court case against Castaic Lake Water Agency's 2000 Urban Water Management Plan. It brought this case because Castaic Lake Water Agency reported water contaminated with ammonium perchlorate as available for development. The Club also joined in the litigation against the Newhall Ranch project over water supplies. The Court agreed and set the Newhall Ranch project approval aside in 2000. After the developer brought it back a second time, the Club agreed to a 2004 settlement requiring documentation and verification of water supplies prior to any tract map approval.

In 2005 the Friends of the Santa Clara River once again challenged Castaic Lake Water Agency's Urban Water management Plan due to concerns that it over-stated water supply and included unverifiable conservation numbers.

What is the answer? 'Paper water' created by over-stating supplies certainly is not one of them.

Instead, we must change our land use policies. We must find a way to lower our water use so that we can depend on local, rather than imported water resources. Low impact, transit oriented development, landscaping with California natives, water conservation policies and using recycled water will move our communities in that direction are some of the answers promoted by the Sierra Club.

Unsustainable projects such as Newhall Ranch and the thousands of other sprawl housing units approved in Santa Clarita and elsewhere are definitely not the answer. Sierrans must take a very critical look at anyone that tries to persuade them otherwise.