Environment

In recent weeks, federal fish agencies have sharply curtailed Delta pumping operations that deliver water to farms and cities south of the Delta, citing the need to protect the threatened Delta smelt.  More than 700,000 acre feet of water that could have been stored in San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos for later use by cities and farms has instead been diverted to the ocean.  Pumping levels were reduced from approximately 15,000 cubic feet per second to only 2,000 cubic feet per second in December.