Well, the Feds finally understand what we’ve all been saying for a looong time: The way the Northern California’s water is managed is a bad deal for fish like salmon, steelhead, sturgeon…and even, as it turns out, southern killer whales.

Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its final biological opinion that finds (surprise, surprise!) the water pumping operations in the Central Valley by the federal Bureau of Reclamation jeopardize the continued existence of several threatened and endangered species under the jurisdiction of NOAA’s Fisheries Service.

Federal biologists and hydrologists concluded that current water pumping operations in the Federal Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project should be changed to ensure survival of winter and spring-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, the southern population of North American green sturgeon and Southern Resident killer whales, which rely on Chinook salmon runs for food.Click here to read more…