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dam-l letter to the President

May 23, 1998

The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20050

Dear Mr. President:

	We thank you for the giant environmental step your administration
has taken
in sponsoring the National Ocean Conference (NOC) in Monterey CA on June
11-12.  This crucial forum will have lasting impact if you use the
opportunity
to make clear that there is a vital connection between a naturally
functioning
watershed and the sustainable riches of its coastal zone.  Over 500
billion
dollars has been spent since 1970 to rid this nation of water pollution;
at
least as much will now be expended to improve the health and management
of our
watershed-coastal zone complex.  It is still not well understood that
watersheds and their coastal zones form a single complex ecosystem;
damage to
one reach is eventually seen in the other.  We wish we could be at the
June
NOC to make this point. 
	But as you gaze over Monterey Bay, where a huge river once cut a
channel
deeper than the Grand Canyon, be aware that all the natural aquatic
ecosystems
of California are in danger of disappearing along with their adjacent
coastal
zone resources.  The MBNMS is not the only system in danger.  Northern
California is presently struggling to save the "broken delta" of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin rivers, while planning to withdraw even more water
to
satisfy the contracted "needs" of agriculture, industry and a burgeoning
population.  In the Southern California Bight, 26 major and some 150
minor
waterways have been damned and depleted, leading to major declines in
coastal
resources.  Massive efforts to severely reduce pollution coming from 15
million inhabitants and their industries have not brought concomitant
resource
recovery in this area.  Similar water development schemes elsewhere have
presented us with severe resource problems in the Colorado and Columbia
river
systems, Gulf of Mexico, and East Coast and Florida bays and estuaries.
	For too long we have failed to understand the nature of this
link, and have
blamed a multitude of other sins (habitat destruction, pollution,
overfishing,
and, now, even global warming) for the obvious decline in our sea's
resources.
As those bright fellows Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein taught, you
can't
get something from nothing!  Although each new sin may compound our
problems,
without some remaining semblance of a naturally functioning watershed the
coastal zone resources will continue to decline, costing our economy
billions.
Even the now protected Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS)
will not
survive, and this fact will not change much by further scientific studies
of
pollution, overfishing, or other concerns not related to the overarching
problem of fresh water depletion.  We have been looking in the wrong
place for
the cause of the ocean's decline!  It is time to focus on the critical
link
between watersheds and seas.  It's the water that forged and strengthened
this
link over the past several thousand years.   
	Decades of careful study and experience has shown us this problem
stems
primarily from the cumulative effects of dam building and subsequent
freshwater diversions to serve human needs.  A practical limit is
diversion of
more than 25-30% of the average natural freshwater runoff .  Exceeding
this
amount has denied coastal waters of billions of tons of sediments,
nutrients,
oxygen, and other trace materials.  These elements, along with the
natural
hydrological mixing and entrainment processes of Spring flushing, are
essential to maintain even a small part of the formerly teeming coastal
zone
sustaining 90% of our most important fish and shellfish resources.  Not
every
drop of water reaching the sea is wasted (contrary to the cries of water
developers).  The longterm, cumulative effects of runoff depletion on the
delta-estuary-bay-coastal complex have just begun to receive wider
attention.
Future work deserves an integrated system approach that can only be
accomplished by the wonderfully diverse talents brought together for your
NOC.
Please raise the bar by challenging them to work in concert with other
estuarine and freshwater stake-holders to research, develop and manage
lasting
solutions for all future generations.
	These facts have long been apparent to us, are well documented
globally and
are clearly seen in ecosystem destruction in the former Soviet Union,
including a shriveled Aral Sea, salinized Azov Sea and 150 billion
dollars in
lost fishery catch in the Black Sea and Caspian.  Elsewhere in Asia and
the
Middle East, the water supply crisis has advanced to the stage where the
looming issue is "environmental security."  This strategic aspect of
water is
now becoming more prominent in our daily news (e.g., A thirsty China may
prove
belligerent, Georgie Anne Geyer, Orange County Register, CA Opinion, May
15,
1998).
	Mr. President, your trip west in June would be seen by us as a
great success
were you to call attention to the role played by runoff in maintaining
the
rich and abundant productivity of the nation's watershed ecosystem
(river-
delta-estuary-bay-coastal zone complex).  Use this opportunity to
announce
initiatives to determine the appropriate division of this nation's fresh
water, halting the cumulative effects that diversions have already had on
formerly rich estuarine and coastal waters.  Until watershed limits are
determined in a comprehensive, integrated way we predict continued
decline in
renewable resources and further degradation in coastal water quality. 
This
fact will eventually result in even more serious consequences than just
the
"water wars" we are continually trying to avoid here in California.  A
strong
federal presence in this business can counter some of the parochial
interests
that continue to inhibit progress in understanding the bigger picture of
the
nature of water and its vital role in maintaining our priceless coastal
zone.

Respectfully,

Irwin Haydock, Ph.D.;  Aquatic Ecologist, Fountain Valley, CA
Michael Rozengurt, Ph.D., P.H.; Oceanographer and Hydrologist, Huntington
Beach, CA.  (Together representing over 80 years of watershed-coastal
zone
science and management)

cc:	Honorable Vice President, Al Gore
	Kathleen A. McGinty, Chair, CEQ
	Senator Barbara Boxer
	Senator Diane Feinstein
	Congressman Sam Farr
	Congressman Dana Rohrabacher

Attachment:  Selected References.

				Selected References

	Robinson, A.E.  1981.  Chesapeake Bay low freshwater inflow
study.  In: R.D.
Cross and  D.L. Williams (eds.), Proceedings of the National Symposium on
Freshwater Inflow to Estuaries II:114-127.  U.S. Department of the
Interior,
Washington, D.C.
	Rozengurt, M.A. and M.J. Herz.  1981.  Water, water everywhere
but just so
much to drink. (pp. 65-67)  Oceans.  Sept.
	Rozengurt, M.A. and I. Haydock.  1981.  Methods of computation
and ecological
regulation of the salinity regime in estuaries and shallow seas in
connection
with water regulation for human requirements.  In: R.D. Cross and D.L.
Williams (eds.), Proceedings of the National Symposium on Freshwater
Inflow to
Estuaries II:475-507.  U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
	Rozengurt, M.A., M.J. Herz, and M. Josselyn.  1985.  In: D.L.
Goodrich (ed.)
San Francisco Bay: issues, resources, status, and management.  NOAA
Estuary-
of-the-Month Seminar Series No. 6. (pp. 35-62)  NOAA, Washington, D.C.
	Rozengurt, M.A., M.J. Herz, and S. Feld.  1987a.  Technical
Report No. 87-8,
Tiburon.  Center for Environmental Studies, San Francisco State
University,
Tiburon, CA.
	Rozengurt, M.A., M.J. Herz, and S. Feld.  1987b.  Analysis of the
influence
of water withdrawals on runoff to the Delta-San Francisco Bay Ecosystem
(1921-83).  Technical Report No. 87-7. Center for Environmental Studies,
San
Francisco State University, Tiburon, CA.
	Rozengurt, M.A., and J.W. Hedgpeth.  1989.  Impact of Altered
River Flow on
the Ecosystem of the Caspian Sea.  Reviews in Aquatic Sciences Vol. 1, 2,
pp.
337-362.
	Rozengurt, M.A.  1991.  Strategy and ecological and societal
results of
extensive resources development in the South of the U.S.S.R.  In:
Proceedings,
The Soviet Union in the Year 2010. USAIA and Georgetown University,
Washington, D.C.
	Rozengurt, M.A. and I. Haydock.  1991.  Effects of fresh water
development
and water pollution policies on the world's river-delta-estuary-coastal
zone
ecosystems.  In: H.S. Bolton (ed.), Coastal Wetlands Volume, Coastlines
of the
World.  (pp. 85-89)  Coastal Zone '91, Proceedings of the Seventh
Symposium on
Coastal and Ocean Management.  American Society of Civil Engineers, New
York,
NY.
	Rozengurt, M.A.  1992.  Alteration of freshwater inflows.  In:
R.H. Stroud
(ed.),  "Stemming the Tide of Coastal Fish Habitat Loss."  Marine
Recreational
Fisheries Symposium 14:73-80. National Coalition for Marine Conservation,
Savannah, GA.
	Rozengurt, M.A. and I. Haydock.  1993.  The role of inland water
development
on the systemic alteration of the coastal zone environment.  In:
Proceedings
of Watershed '93, A National Conference on Watershed Management.  U.S.
EPA,
Washington, D.C.
	Simenstad, C.A., D.A. Jay and C.R. Sherwood.  1992.  Impacts of
watershed
management on land-margin ecosystems: the Columbia River Estuary.  In: 
R.J.
Naiman (ed.), Watershed Management, Balancing Sustainability and
Environmental
Change.  (pp. 266-306)  Springer-Verlag, NY.
	Tolmazin, D.M.  1985.  Changing coastal oceanography of the Black
Sea. Prog.
Oceanog.15:217.