Pump project gets green light

After nearly a decade of study, federal officials have approved a $160 million pump project to feed irrigation water to Mid-Valley farmers.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday authorized design and construction of the “Fish Passage Improvement Project” at the head of the Tehama-Colusa Canal in Red Bluff. The canal is currently fed by Sacramento River water via gates lowered each spring at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam.

The pump project was proposed by the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority to address ongoing concerns about declining fish populations and the need for reliable irrigation supplies for west-side farmers.

“We’re ecstatic to be able to move forward with the project,” said Jeff Sutton, general manager for the Canal Authority.

The diversion dam sends water to crops in 18 water districts in Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Yolo counties. Environmental regulations have restricted water diversions to a four-month period each year between May and September.

According to the Canal Authority, the water feeds a huge variety of crops, including thousands of acres of orchards, which contribute more than $1 billion to the regional economy each year.

In a prepared statement, Canal Authority officials said the decision was timely given a pending federal lawsuit being heard this month in Fresno. If environmentalists prevail in that suit, which attacks water diversions at Red Bluff and other locations in the Central Valley, water deliveries could be drastically reduced. In a special hearing during the trial, U.S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger refused a request for an emergency injunction that would have raised the water gates at Red Bluff. Had that happened, Sutton said, more than 150,000 acres of farmland would have dried up, destroying more than $250 million of crop production.

In April, Wanger found that a biological opinion prepared by the National Marine Fisheries Service on the impact of Central Valley Project was legally inadequate. Specifically, the judge said the opinion did not adequately address global warming and loss of critical fish habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead.

Officials anticipate a new biological opinion to be published in March that would set new rules for gate operations. Officials hope the opinion will allow the dam’s use to continue until the pumping plant is completed. Design and construction is expected to take three years.

Contact Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.