Delta pumps trigger killing zone in the Delta

This just in from Yuba.net, a press release from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance:

Resumption of massive water exports from the Delta by the State Water Project (SWP) and federal Central Valley Project (CVP) has caused a massive killing zone of low dissolved oxygen to develop in the San Joaquin River at Stockton California. Adequate levels of dissolved oxygen are crucial for the survival of aquatic life.

When the Central Valley and State Water Project (CVP/SWP) export pumping was ramped up (from 850 cfs to 4,500-5,200 cfs) following a brief closure to protect Delta smelt, the majority of water flowing down the San Joaquin was siphoned across Old River to the pumps. Flows in the San Joaquin River near the Port of Stockton (Port) dropped from over 1,000 cfs to as low as 98 cfs (Friday, June 22) and minus 6 cfs (Wednesday, June 27). In other words, the giant CVP/SWP reversed the flow of the San Joaquin River on June 27. As a result, dissolved oxygen in a 3-5 mile reach of the river, as measured by the Department of Water Resource’s (DWR) real-time monitoring gage at the Port, plummeted to as low as 1.8 mg/L (June 25, and considerably less at depth), which is far below the water quality standard of 5 mg/L. Significant direct mortality to fish and other aquatic life occurs at these levels.

“Here is yet another painful example of the harmful effects of the excessive export of water from the Delta and the blatant failure by regulatory and resource agencies to enforce the law to address long-standing violations that are cumulatively causing the disintegration of the Delta’s biological tapestry,” said Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “The Delta is dying because political pressure is preventing agencies charged with protecting the estuary from complying with their statutory mandates,” he said.

To read the full text of this press release from CSPA & Yuba.Net, click here.

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