EPA Rejects Water Quality Plan for Delta : Environment: Tougher standard may result in less pumping to Southland.

SACRAMENTO —  The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday told California its plan for protecting fish and wildlife in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is inadequate, raising the specter of less water being pumped from the delta for Southern California.

The EPA, echoing concerns expressed by environmentalists, said a water quality plan adopted May 1 by the Water Resources Control Board provided objectives for temperature and salt levels in the environmentally sensitive delta that were not sufficient to protect “the ecological health of the estuary.”

State water officials are able to control temperature and salt levels depending on how much cool, fresh water is kept flowing through the delta channels and how much is pumped out for human use.

Environmentalists and water agency officials said it appeared the EPA was attempting to force the state to establish standards in its water quality plan that would require more fresh water to flow through the delta to hold back saltwater from San Francisco Bay. If greater flows are required in the delta, it would mean that less water can pumped out for exportation south to cities and farms.

The delta is a prime source of water for the Metropolitan Water District, a giant wholesaler that supplies Los Angeles and other Southern Californian cities.

“It’s difficult to see an outcome here that would not include a reallocation of water resources,” said James Strock, Gov. Pete Wilson’s secretary for environmental protection.

EPA gave the state 90 days to come up with tougher standards. If the state fails to meet the deadline, EPA is empowered under the Clean Water Act to begin developing federal standards for the delta.

Acknowledging it was unlikely the state could meet the deadline, Strock said officials would ask the federal agency to ease the timetables.

The EPA announcement prompted diverse reactions among water interests, with environmentalists calling the decision a vindication of their position while water agencies suggested the federal agency was attempting a takeover of water allocation in California.

The water resources board had not included standards for delta flows in its water quality plan, contending that was an issue that required more scientific study and would be decided next year when the agency considers other delta issues.

“It appears they (EPA officials) want more water for fish and there is only one place it can come from and that is from people,” said Greg Wilkinson, a Riverside attorney who represented state water contractors during the board’s hearings on delta issues.

Wilkinson said he believed the courts would ultimately hold, as they have in the past, that the allocation of water is a state function, not a federal one, and that the needs of people must be balanced with environmental needs when determining how scarce water will be distributed.

But Tom Graff, senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, disagreed, saying the law clearly required that a consideration of water flows in the delta be part of any standards established for water quality.

Graff said he hoped the EPA decision will give Wilson the “ammunition to overhaul” the board by replacing appointees of former Gov. George Deukmejian. He noted that the water quality decisions criticized by the EPA had been made by a board composed of Deukmejian appointees.