River releases to begin soon after brief delay

Published online on Wednesday, Sep. 30, 2009
By E.J. Schultz and Pablo Lopez / The Fresno Bee

A long-awaited plan to restore the San Joaquin River has hit a snag — the federal Bureau of Reclamation has not received a state permit to release water from Friant Dam.

Initially, the plan was to release the water by noon today, said the bureau’s spokesman, Pete Lucero.
But on Wednesday, the California Water Resource Control Board’s legal counsel was still reviewing the bureau’s water-release permit to determine whether it is legally sound, said William L. Rukeyser, the board’s spokesman.

The board plans to hand over the permit to the bureau, which operates the dam, by 3 p.m. today, Rukeyser said.
If that happens, water releases could begin late this afternoon or Friday, Lucero said.

When it does happen, there won’t be a ceremony — just the flip of a few switches at the dam.A couple of 3-foot valves will open. And within seconds, more water will rush into the San Joaquin River, kicking off one of the most ambitious river restoration projects ever.

The nine-year project — the culmination of a legal settlement between farmers and environmentalists — will eventually reconnect the 350-mile river to the Pacific Ocean. Salmon could one day migrate from near Fresno to the ocean along portions of river that are now dry.

Costs could run as high as $1.2 billion and big decisions remain on how exactly to restore parts of the river.
In the experimental first phases, officials will test how the river responds to the new flows. When the valves are opened, the rush of water from Friant Dam will more than double to 350 cubic feet per second.
Still, the average person probably won’t notice, Lucero said. “Movement of the river will be a little high,” he said. But “it won’t be a dramatic change.”

Indeed, it will take a few days for water to even reach the first dry stretches of the riverbed.
“We expect it will end up somewhere past Gravelly Ford, 30 river miles from the dam,” Lucero said.
For environmentalists, the releases mark a fresh start for a once-mighty river that hasn’t fully flowed to the Pacific since Friant Dam was built in the 1940s.
Chris Acree, executive director of Revive the San Joaquin, a Fresno-based advocacy group, organized a canoe trip this weekend to celebrate — but also to get a firsthand look at the project. “You can sit in the office and look at the restoration plans,” he said. “But until you’re in the river … you don’t know what’s working and what’s not working.”
Some farmers on the east side oppose the restoration, for fear of losing water. For them, the release marks a sad chapter in a long-running fight. Kole Upton, a Chowchilla Water District director, helped negotiate the deal but has now soured on it. He is planning a news conference today along a bridge downstream of the dam. “I think it’s a day we need to recognize,” he said. “It’s not a good day.”
Around Nov. 1, officials will crank up the flows some more, to about 700 cubic feet per second from the dam. The river level will rise even more and water will creep further along the dry portions, toward Mendota Pool, Lucero said.
By late November, the water volume will be turned back down until February, when the next research phase begins.
But first things first. The California Water Resource Control Board must sign off on the plan. The Bureau of Reclamation is asking the state board to validate the environmental use of the water release, board spokesman Rukeyser said.
The bureau also wants to recapture some of the water after it passes the point where river restoration data is being collected. The bureau wants to divert that water to some of its customers, Rukeyser said. The state board needs to consider all those issues before issuing a permit, he said.
Because the river restoration is a contentious issue, Rukeyser said, “We want to cross all of our T’s and dot all of our I’s and make sure the permit is done properly and legally.”
Rukeyser said the state board’s staff deal with “thousands of applications.” He said the bureau submitted a change to its application in April, but the public comment portion of the application didn’t end until Aug. 31. Staff was then given the go-ahead to review it.