KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Fresno City Council votes "No" To More Dumping In the Delta

Fresno City Council votes "No" To More Dumping In the Delta

By Monty Torres

     It's unanimous!   The Fresno City Council voted seven to nothing Thursday night to strongly object to a Sacramento County request to dump more waste water into the delta.

      Sacramento County's Regional Waste Water Treatment Facility  wants to increase the amount of waste water they discharge into the Sacramento River, from 181 to 218 million gallons per day.  They've applied to the state water control board for permission, but Fresno City Council President Larry Westerlund is leading the charge to block that application with a resolution opposing the request.

    At a time when water pumps for Westside, Fresno County farmers are being blamed for killing off the Delta Smelt and other delta fish species, Westerlund says... the real culprit may not be the pumping, but what Sacramento County is dumping.

     "We believe there is scientific evidence that what they're dumping is killing the basic food chain in the delta.  It's not just all the pumps on the Westside, in fact, the pumps have very little to do with it.  It's more the other things that are happening with the delta that are destroying it, said Westerlund."

     After two years of curtailed pumping and no improvement in Delta Smelt populations, Westerlund says the problem is clearly not the pumps.  Westerlund says he'd like to see conclusive scientific studies done, to determine exactly what effect the added ammonia will have. 

     It's unanimous