Water

By Andy Vidak

It is time to stand up on the water issue and put the people of the district first

Why? All because of a man made drought caused by Congress.

There have been several voting opportunities to get the pumps turned on and voted against turning on the pumps four times and I would have voted for them. I will sponsor the necessary legislation to keep the pumps on.

Let me educate you a little more about the water issue. It's not just about the pumps. There are two biological opinions in force that fail to consider the impact of other stressors on the Delta. Although recently we have had some legal victories, the environmentalists have succeeded in establishing that only the uses by agriculture should be evaluated.

What is really stressing the Delta?

The cities along the waterways dump over 300 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the Delta every day. This sewage is loaded with ammonia, pyrethroids, and just about everything you flush down your toilet. These poisons are destroying the habitat and the wildlife in the Delta

To make matters worse these areas continue to allow sprawling growth and are adding to the pressures on the water quality of the Delta and the Bay every day. Sacramento is trying to get approval to dump an additional 100 million gallons of partially treated sewage in the Delta estuary daily.

Is this impact being considered in the biological opinions? NO it is not.

Hetch-Hetchy Reservoir and aqueduct steal over 250 million gallons of water a day from the Delta and send it to Nancy Pelosi's district in San Francisco and George Miller's district in the East Bay.

Is this impact being considered in the biological opinions? NO it is not.

There are invasive species such as Stripped Bass, Largemouth Bass, Asian Clam, Chinese Mitten Crab, European Green Crab and the Inland Silverside that are creating havoc on the habitat of the Delta Smelt.

It is Thanksgiving every day for striped bass when the salmon smolt come through on their way to the ocean.

Is this impact being considered in the biological opinions? NO it is not.

There are thousands of people who are out of work in the valley because there is no water for the farms to grow crops. There are people I know by name in San Joaquin, Mendota, Riverdale, Orosi and towns all up and down the valley who are standing in food lines in the most productive agricultural land in the world.

Agriculture is our economy. Agriculture is our way of life. As sure as any enemy in the history of our country, the actions of the elitist left are the biggest threat to our livelihood we have ever faced.

Enough is enough. Unless we get back control of our country and our precious valley, we will have no economy, no jobs and no future.

What will I do?

• I will sponsor legislation that modifies the Endangered Species Act to insure the impact on humans is included.
• I will sponsor legislation to insure that all stresses on the Delta are evaluated, not just agriculture.
• I will push to develop more storage and to partner with our State government to rebuild and expand our water infrastructure.