January 8, 2015 — The delta smelt may be a small fish with a short life, but it has spawned a decades-long legal battle over water in California. At issue has been a series of orders under the Endangered Species Act that at times reduce water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to San Joaquin Valley growers and urban Southern California.
Citing the severe state drought, lawyers for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a strict federal rule from the 1970s that calls for curtailing the water diversions to protect the threatened delta smelt and other imperiled species regardless of the cost to humans and the economy.
The reduced pumping "has had a huge impact," said Bob Muir, a district spokesman. Over the last five years, state officials say pumping has been reduced 10% to 30% each year to keep more fresh water in the delta, the only place in the world where the tiny native smelt is found.
In their appeal, the district's lawyers said the amount of water that was withheld during the winter of 2012-13 "would have been enough to supply the entire San Diego region this year."
The justices will meet Friday to consider a long list of pending appeals; the California water dispute is raised in two appeals, one from a coalition of water agencies and the second from Central Valley growers.
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