Blog: Can we capture more water in the Delta?
A massive amount of water is moving through the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta in the wake of recent storms, and calls have risen from all quarters to capture more of this bounty while it’s here. We spoke with PPIC Water Policy Center adjunct fellow Greg Gartrell to understand what’s preventing that—and to dispel the myth of “water wasted to the sea.” … People complain that we’re wasting water to the ocean. While it’s true that there are pumping restrictions right now to protect fish, the maximum the projects could be pumping is about 14,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), not quite double what they’re currently pumping (8,000 cfs on Jan 12). With current outflows at about 150,000 cfs, we’d still see 144,000 cfs flowing to the ocean if they were pumping without restrictions.
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