A historic settlement outlining the most ambitious river restoration project in California's thirsty history was filed in federal court Wednesday, the first major step in an effort to return year-round flows and a long-destroyed salmon run to the Central Valley's once grand San Joaquin River.
The agreement ends an 18-year legal battle over the river, parts of which were reduced to a sandy skeleton half a century ago after most of its Sierra-fed waters were diverted to 1 million acres of San Joaquin Valley agriculture.
"The magnitude of this restoration effort -- returning water and salmon back to 60 miles of dead river -- is virtually unprecedented in the American West," said Hal Candee, a Natural Resources Defense Council senior attorney who helped file the 1988 lawsuit that produced the settlement after years of negotiations.
The agreement among the federal government, growers and environmental groups will reduce diversions from the river by an average of 15%, releasing enough water from Friant Dam near Fresno to revive a spring chinook salmon run that was completely wiped out after the dam was built in the 1940s.
Fish passageways and screens will be constructed, the river channel will be improved in some areas and levees will be strengthened to contain the increased flows.
The project will take years and, according to estimates, will cost between $250 million and $800 million, depending on how extensive the levee work is. Funding will come from growers, the state and the federal government, which operates Friant Dam.
State Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow called the project "an incredible opportunity" and, in a statement, Assistant U.S. Interior Secretary Mark Limbaugh termed it "monumental."
Federal legislation has been drafted to authorize up to $250 million in federal spending for the restoration effort.
Proposition 84 on the November ballot includes $100 million of state money for the San Joaquin. Additional funds could come from other infrastructure bonds that will go before California voters this fall.
The settlement lays out various ways to help farmers make up for the water they will lose to the river. In wet years with high San Joaquin flows, for instance, growers will be able to buy discounted water from the federal government to store for future use. They probably also will buy water from other irrigation districts that don't draw from the San Joaquin.
