The Delta has been embroiled in controversy about how to restore
a faltering ecosystem while maintaining its role as the hub of
the state’s water supply.
Issues include improving water system management, estuary health,
conservation efforts to protect the endangered Delta smelt, levee
fragility and the proposed twin tunnels, which will be put on a
statewide ballot in the future.
The word got out and the environmental lobby was quick to
pounce: After years of silence on the issue, Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s administration was reviving a controversial plan to
burrow a tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the
fragile hub of California’s water-delivery system.
Environmentalists said the tunnel would wreck the Delta, not
fix it. Ailing fish populations would be driven further to
extinction. The reworking of the Delta’s plumbing would leave
Delta farmers with water too salty for raising grapes, tomatoes
and other crops, they said.
About 21,000 fish at an aquatic research center at the
University of California, Davis, died from chlorine exposure in
what the university described as a “catastrophic failure” that
had shocked researchers and would significantly delay their
studies. The university said in a statement that it would
investigate “where our process failed” and initiate an
independent external review. … The fish were found dead
on Tuesday in several tanks at the Center for Aquatic Biology
and Aquaculture, which sits on five acres and is home to
research programs that focus on sustaining California’s aquatic
species and supporting sustainable aquaculture production,
according to the center’s website.
The third attempt could be the charm for repairing California’s
main waterworks, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. On
paper at least, the latest plan by a governor to upgrade the
delta into a more reliable state water supply seems to make
much more sense than what his predecessors promoted. Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s single-tunnel proposal is smaller and more respectful
of the bucolic estuary’s small farms, waterfowl habitat, unique
recreational boating and historic tiny communities. So, it’s
potentially less controversial. But it still can legitimately
be labeled a Los Angeles and corporate agriculture “water
grab.” -Written by LA Times columnist George Skelton.
Tulare Lake. Gone. Owens Lake. On a resuscitator but near
death. Mono Lake: Its life hangs in the balance. They —
and many more California lakes and rivers — were the victim of
defying Mother Nature and sucking massive amounts of water from
one basin to another. Bypassing a massive amount of water from
the Delta ecological system by tunneling under it — what could
possibly go wrong? It is why the recent latest reincarnation of
Los Angeles’ not-to-secret plan to destroy the Delta along with
their partners-in-crime on the western side of Kern County is
pure tunnel vision.
On Monday, Republican members of Congress continued their fight
when it comes to the biological opinions that help determine
water deliveries from the federal Central Valley Project and
State Water Project, sending a letter to Secretary of the
Interior Deb Haaland expressing their “grave concerns” over the
process to reconsider those biological opinions. The California
Republican Congressional delegation said the reconsultation
process of 2019 biological opinions developed by the Trump
administration will decrease the amount of water delivered to
the San Joaquin Valley.
Peter Moyle is widely considered the “godfather of California
fish biology.” The UC Davis professor emeritus has been
conducting native fish surveys here for more than 50 years. He
also played a major role in restoring Yolo County’s beloved
local stream, Putah Creek. His work sounded alarm bells
about native fish, including the endangered Delta smelt — a
nearly extinct icon of California’s water woes. Unfortunately,
the bells keep ringing: 80% of native fish have declined in the
state since he first began studying them.
Four-plus decades ago, when a young governor named Jerry Brown,
was advocating a “peripheral canal” to carry Sacramento River
water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, he argued that
it would not only improve water deliveries but would stop the
degradation of the Delta’s water quality. The latter contention
initially attracted some positive attention from environmental
groups which were complaining that pulling water directly out
of the Delta for shipment to San Joaquin Valley farms and
Southern California’s homes had upset flows that were vital to
healthy fish populations. -Written by CalMatters columnist Dan Walters.
Charlie Hamilton hasn’t irrigated his vineyards with water from
the Sacramento River since early May, even though it flows just
yards from his crop. Nearby to the south, the industrial
Bay Area city of Antioch has supplied its people with water
from the San Joaquin River for just 32 days this year, compared
to roughly 128 days by this time in a wet year. They may be
close by, but these two rivers, central arms
of California’s water system, have become too salty to use
in some places as the state’s punishing drought drags on.
California lawmakers representing the state’s Delta area are
calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom to cancel his plan for an
underground tunnel that would reroute water from Northern to
Southern California. Representatives John Garamendi, Josh
Harder, Jerry McNerney and Mike Thompson, all Democrats,
released a joint statement in response to the draft
environmental impact report for the project.
Summer 2022 is a season of ecological restoration for the
Department of Water Resources (DWR). From June 23 to July
14, 2022, DWR and partners celebrated four multi-benefit
restoration projects taking place in California’s Central
Valley including the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta),
Suisun Marsh, and Yolo Bypass region. Each of these projects
have the capacity to deliver multiple benefits that include
habitat restoration, supporting endangered species, flood risk
reduction, or public access.
A key priority of the Newsom Administration – the Delta
Conveyance Project – has officially entered its next chapter.
On July 22, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) released
its draft environmental impact report (Draft EIR) for the Delta
Conveyance Project. The Delta Conveyance Project is DWR’s and
Governor Newsom’s plan to build an underground tunnel to bring
water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the State Water
Project pumps near Tracy in order to reduce the risk from
earthquakes and climate change to the State’s water supplies.
This week’s CaliforniaWaterBlog post is an excerpt (Box 1) from
a recent Delta Independent Science Board report on non-native
species and the California Delta. This excerpt summarizes
the experience of the Great Lakes, and how its physical and
ecological management has led to waves of profoundly disruptive
species invasions, resulting in a sequence of “novel”
ecosystems. This sequence of invasions seems likely to
continue to shape the Great Lakes. This history is a
wake-up and warning for policymakers and those working on
California’s Delta.
Will the fifth time be the charm for California’s decades-long
effort to replumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta so that more
Northern California water can be transported to Southern
California? Don’t count on it. Last week, the state Department
of Water Resources released a draft environmental impact report
on the latest iteration of the 57-year-long effort to change
the Delta’s role in water supply, a 45-mile-long tunnel
officially named the “Delta Conveyance.” The 3,000-page
document immediately drew the responses that have accompanied
past versions — big municipal and agricultural water agencies
were in favor of it because it would, they hope, increase water
deliveries south of the Delta, and environmentalists were
against it, saying it would further damage the Delta’s already
bruised ecosystem. -Written by Dan Walters, columnist for CalMatters.
Here we go again. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration revived
the Delta tunnel project Wednesday, unveiling a downsized
version of the controversial, multibillion-dollar plan to
re-engineer the fragile estuary on Sacramento’s doorstep that
serves as the hub of California’s over-stressed water-delivery
network. After three years with little to no public activity,
the state released an environmental blueprint for what’s now
called the Delta Conveyance — a 45-mile tunnel that would
divert water from the Sacramento River and route it under the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta so that it can be shipped to farms
and cities hundreds of miles away.
On June 8, 2022, DWR’s Director, Karla Nemeth, made a
presentation on the Delta tunnel project to the Delta
Independent Science Board (Delta ISB), with several of the
scientists who had worked on the project. She said that she
supported the Delta ISB’s review of the project. But unlike the
twin tunnels project, the Department of Water Resources did not
release the Administrative Draft EIR for the single tunnel. DWR
is instead planning for the Delta ISB to review the new project
for the first time during the CEQA comment period on the Draft
Delta Conveyance EIR, which could be as short as 90 days.
The California Department of Water Resources has announced
that it will be releasing their Draft Environmental Impact
Report (DEIR) early this week for the Delta Conveyance Project,
AKA the embattled Delta Tunnel. Documents for federal
review of the project will be released later this fall.
… The changes in the plans include changes to the
intakes, the tunnel itself, the power lines, the route and the
operations, according to DWR. Here are some of the highlights
of the proposed changes:
A new policy brief from the Public Policy Institute of
California is recommending cost-effective water storage
investments as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is seeing less
inflow. It also offers a damning picture of the thirty-year
shift in how the Golden State divvied up water, largely pitting
fish species against millions of its residents. The institute –
a nonpartisan think tank – initially published the brief in
early spring, focuses on the Delta that supplies water to about
30 million residents and over six million acres of
farmland.
Yesterday, Restore the Delta sent the following
scoping comment letter to the Army Corps of Engineers
in response to a “Dredge and Fill (404) Application from
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to construct
North Delta Drought Salinity Barriers Project.” DWR proposes in
its application to add two more temporary rock fill barriers
along Steamboat and Miner sloughs in the North Delta intending
to prevent intrusion of high-salinity tidal waters into the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta should critical drought conditions
persist into 2023 and beyond.
After completing degrees from Cornell University, University of
Michigan, and the University of New Mexico, Dr. Jon Rosenfield
returned to the Bay Area in 2002, where he worked as a
postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Peter
Moyle. He researches and is a tireless advocate for the
Central Valley’s native salmon, steelhead, and smelt species.
Dr. Rosenfield went on to The Bay Institute where he worked for
over ten years to protect fisheries, becoming one of the
region’s leading experts on the importance of freshwater flows
from the Delta for the sustainability of the Bay’s ecosystem
and fish populations.
California may be winning its five-year, $13 million battle
with nutria — the 20-pound, orange-toothed swamp rodents that
biologists once feared would play hell with wetlands,
flood-control levees and the state’s water-delivery system. …
[Valerie Cook, who runs the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
nutria eradication program] said her team is seeing nutria
numbers declining, and they’ve managed to keep them out of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California’s most important
waterway. Scientists who deal with invasive pests were
first alarmed when nutria — a beagle-sized rodent native to the
wetlands of South America — were spotted in a private
duck-hunting marsh in the spring of 2017 near the farming
community of Gustine in Merced County.
On Monday, California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR)
released a draft Environmental Impacts Report, which looked
into the benefits and potential negative impacts of repeated
use of a temporary drought salinity barrier in the delta. This
drought barrier is in the West False River. It is a wall of
earth that helps to keep salt water from the Bay Area from
infiltrating into the freshwater delta system during times of
severe drought…. If the delta were to become
contaminated with saltwater, millions would lose access to
fresh drinking water, including farmers, who rely on the delta
for irrigation.
This beautifully illustrated 24×36-inch poster, suitable for
framing and display in any office or classroom, highlights the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, its place as a center of
farming, its importance as an ecological resource and its
vital role in California’s water supply system.
The text, photos and graphics explain issues related to land
subsidence, levees and flooding, urbanization, farming, fish and
wildlife protection. An inset map illustrates the tidal action
that increases the salinity of the Delta’s waterways.
Our Water 101 Workshop, one of our most popular events, offered attendees the opportunity to deepen their understanding of California’s water history, laws, geography and politics.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the state, the workshop was held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of Thursday, April 22 and Friday, April 23.
Deep, throaty cadenced calls —
sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands,
farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each
year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the
Cosumnes River Preserve,
46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The Water Education Foundation’s Water 101 Workshop, one of our most popular events, offered attendees the opportunity to deepen their understanding of California’s water history, laws, geography and politics.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the state, the one-day workshop held on Feb. 20, 2020 covered the latest on the most compelling issues in California water.
McGeorge School of Law
3327 5th Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Registration opens today for the
Water Education Foundation’s 36th annual Water
Summit, set for Oct. 30 in Sacramento. This year’s
theme, Water Year 2020: A Year of Reckoning,
reflects fast-approaching deadlines for the State Groundwater
Management Act as well as the pressing need for new approaches to
water management as California and the West weather intensified
flooding, fire and drought. To register for this can’t-miss
event, visit our Water Summit
event page.
Registration includes a full day of discussions by leading
stakeholders and policymakers on key issues, as well as coffee,
materials, gourmet lunch and an outdoor reception by the
Sacramento River that will offer the opportunity to network with
speakers and other attendees. The summit also features a silent
auction to benefit our Water Leaders program featuring
items up for bid such as kayaking trips, hotel stays and lunches
with key people in the water world.
Our 36th annual
Water Summit,
happening Oct. 30 in Sacramento, will feature the theme “Water
Year 2020: A Year of Reckoning,” reflecting upcoming regulatory
deadlines and efforts to improve water management and policy in
the face of natural disasters.
The Summit will feature top policymakers and leading stakeholders
providing the latest information and a variety of viewpoints on
issues affecting water across California and the West.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
In the universe of California water, Tim Quinn is a professor emeritus. Quinn has seen — and been a key player in — a lot of major California water issues since he began his water career 40 years ago as a young economist with the Rand Corporation, then later as deputy general manager with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and finally as executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. In December, the 66-year-old will retire from ACWA.
One of our most popular events, our annual Water 101 Workshop
details the history, geography, legal and political facets
of water in California as well as hot topics currently facing the
state.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the
state, the one-day workshop on Feb. 7 gave attendees a
deeper understanding of the state’s most precious natural
resources.
Optional Groundwater Tour
On Feb. 8, we jumped aboard a bus to explore groundwater, a key
resource in California. Led by Foundation staff and groundwater
experts Thomas
Harter and Carl Hauge, retired DWR chief hydrogeologist, the
tour visited cities and farms using groundwater, examined a
subsidence measuring station and provided the latest updates
on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
McGeorge School of Law
3327 5th Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
The Colorado River Basin is more
than likely headed to unprecedented shortage in 2020 that could
force supply cuts to some states, but work is “furiously”
underway to reduce the risk and avert a crisis, Bureau of
Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman told an audience of
California water industry people.
During a keynote address at the Water Education Foundation’s
Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento, Burman said there is
opportunity for Colorado River Basin states to control their
destiny, but acknowledged that in water, there are no guarantees
that agreement can be reached.
Farmers in the Central Valley are broiling about California’s plan to increase flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to help struggling salmon runs avoid extinction. But in one corner of the fertile breadbasket, River Garden Farms is taking part in some extraordinary efforts to provide the embattled fish with refuge from predators and enough food to eat.
And while there is no direct benefit to one farm’s voluntary actions, the belief is what’s good for the fish is good for the farmers.
Our annual Water Summit, being held Sept. 20, will
feature critical conversations about water in California and
the West revolving around the theme: Facing
Reality from the Headwaters to the
Delta.
As debate continues to swirl around longer-term remedies for
California’s water challenges, the theme reflects the need for
straightforward dialogue about more immediate, on-the-ground
solutions.
Brenda Burman, commissioner of the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, will give the keynote lunch address
at our 35th annual conference, the Water
Summit, to be held Sept. 20 in Sacramento.
The daylong event will feature critical conversations about water
in California and the West revolving around the
theme: Facing Reality from the Headwaters to the
Delta.
For more than 100 years, invasive
species have made the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta their home,
disrupting the ecosystem and costing millions of dollars annually
in remediation.
The latest invader is the nutria, a large rodent native to South
America that causes concern because of its propensity to devour
every bit of vegetation in sight and destabilize levees by
burrowing into them. Wildlife officials are trapping the animal
and trying to learn the extent of its infestation.
Deep, throaty cadenced calls —
sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands,
farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each
year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the
Cosumnes River Preserve,
46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
One of our most popular events, Water 101 details the history,
geography, legal and political facets of water in California
as well as hot topics currently facing the state.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the
state, the one-day workshop gives attendees a deeper
understanding of the state’s most precious natural resource.
McGeorge School of Law
3285 5th Ave, Classroom C
Sacramento, CA 95817
Does California need to revamp the way in which water is dedicated to the environment to better protect fish and the ecosystem at large? In the hypersensitive world of California water, where differences over who gets what can result in epic legislative and legal battles, the idea sparks a combination of fear, uncertainty and promise.
Saying that the way California manages water for the environment “isn’t working for anyone,” the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) shook things up late last year by proposing a redesigned regulatory system featuring what they described as water ecosystem plans and water budgets with allocations set aside for the environment.
Deepen your knowledge of California water issues at our popular
Water
101 Workshop and jump aboard the bus the next day to
visit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a 720,000-acre
network of islands and canals that supports the state’s water
system and is California’s most crucial water and ecological
resource.
This issue of Western Water discusses the CALFED Bay-Delta
Program and what the future holds as it enters a crucial period.
From its continued political viability to the advancement of best
available science and the challenges of fulfilling the ROD, the
near future will feature a lively discussion that will play a
significant role in the program’s future.
This issue of Western Water examines the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta as it stands today and the efforts by government
agencies, policy experts, elected officials and the public at
large to craft a vision for a sustainable future.
There are multiple Delta Vision processes underway and a decision
on the future of the Delta will be made in the next two years.
Unlike past planning efforts that focused primarily on water
resource issues and the ecosystem, these current efforts are
expanding to include land use planning, recreation, flood
management, and energy, rail and transportation infrastructure.
How – or if – all these competing demands can be accommodated is
the question being considered.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the Delta through the
many ongoing activities focusing on it, most notably the Delta
Vision process. Many hours of testimony, research, legal
proceedings, public hearings and discussion have occurred and
will continue as the state seeks the ultimate solution to the
problems tied to the Delta.
This printed issue of Western Water provides an overview of the
idea of a dual conveyance facility, including questions
surrounding its cost, operation and governance
This printed issue of Western Water looks at some of
the pieces of the 2009 water legislation, including the Delta
Stewardship Council, the new requirements for groundwater
monitoring and the proposed water bond.
This printed issue of Western Water examines science –
the answers it can provide to help guide management decisions in
the Delta and the inherent uncertainty it holds that can make
moving forward such a tenuous task.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the issues
associated with the State Water Board’s proposed revision of the
water quality Bay-Delta Plan, most notably the question of
whether additional flows are needed for the system, and how they
might be provided.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the
Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at
improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying
California’s long-term water supply reliability.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem
needs freshwater to survive. How much water and where it comes
from is a longstanding debate that is flaring up as the state
embarks on an updated water quality plan for the Bay-Delta.
The Delta Plan is a comprehensive management plan for the
Sacramento San
Joaquin Delta intended to help the state meet the coequal
goals of water reliability and ecosystem restoration.
The Delta
Stewardship Council, which oversees the Delta Plan, adopted a
final version in May 2013 after three years of study and public
meetings. Once completed, the Bay Delta Conservation Plan could
be incorporated into the Delta Plan.
15-minute DVD that graphically portrays the potential disaster
should a major earthquake hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
“Delta Warning” depicts what would happen in the event of an
earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale: 30 levee breaks,
16 flooded islands and a 300 billion gallon intrusion of salt
water from the Bay – the “big gulp” – which would shut down the
State Water Project and Central Valley Project pumping plants.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is
today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the
fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically
important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system,
there have been some critical events that had a profound impact
on California’s water history. These turning points not only
forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives
of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a
historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped
the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with
background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, explains how
non-native invasive animals can alter the natural ecosystem,
leading to the demise of native animals. “Unwelcome Visitors”
features photos and information on four such species – including
the zerbra mussel – and explains the environmental and economic
threats posed by these species.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, explains how
non-native invasive plants can alter the natural ecosystem,
leading to the demise of native plants and animals. “Space
Invaders” features photos and information on six non-native
plants that have caused widespread problems in the Bay-Delta
Estuary and elsewhere.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The importance of the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta to all Californians from Redding to San Diego is the theme
of this 60-minute program hosted by actor Timothy Busfield of
“thirtysomething.” Produced in 1998 and updated in 1999, the
program is designed to teach the public about where and what the
Delta is, its importance to farms, cities and the environment,
the history of its development and the options now being
discussed by CALFED – the joint state-federal government effort
to solve water supply and environmental issues.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
Overseen by the California Department of Water Resources,
California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, the Delta Risk Management Strategy evaluated
the sustainability of the
Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and assessed major risks from floods, seepage,
subsidence and earthquakes, sea level rise and climate change.
The critical condition of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has
prompted the question of how it can continue to serve as a source
of water for 25 million people while remaining a viable
ecosystem, agricultural community and growing residential center.
Developing a “dual conveyance” system of continuing to use Delta
waterways to convey water to the export pumps but also building a
new pipeline or canal to move some water supplies around the
Delta is an issue of great scrutiny.
Consider the array of problems facing the Sacramento- San Joaquin
Delta for too long and the effect can be nearly overwhelming.
Permanently altered more than a century ago, the estuary -
arguably the only one of its kind – is an enigma to those outside
its realm, a region embroiled in difficulties that resist simple,
ready-made solutions.
