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Daniel Weintraub: Get used to hearing a lot more talk about the Delta

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 20, 2008 at 7:14 am

From the Modesto Bee, this column from Daniel Weintraub:

I can’t prove it, but I’d be willing to bet that the delta formed by the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers is not exactly top of mind for most Californians, if they know about it at all. The marshy triangle south of Sacramento is home to relatively few people. And while thousands drive past it every day on Interstate 5, and houseboaters and fishermen ply its waters on weekends, the Delta and its bleak future have made a better topic for policy geeks than dinner table conversation.

But that might soon be changing.

The Delta is in crisis, and that crisis could undermine the water supply for Southern California and the Silicon Valley, and curtail agriculture in the southern San Joaquin Valley, doing damage to the state’s economy and potentially making ghost towns out of many farming communities. The end of the Delta as we know it might come slowly, or it could come overnight, from a major natural disaster. But it is coming.

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is part of the largest estuary on the West Coast. More than 50 species of fish and 300 species of birds, mammals and wildlife have tried to make it their home.

The Delta also serves as a transfer point for the state’s water supply. Snowmelt from the Cascades and the Sierra drains into the Sacramento River and flows into the Delta at its northern edge. Pumps at the southern end of the Delta then suck water out and send it to the Bay Area and Southern California, serving two-thirds of the state’s residents and millions of acres of farmland.

Until modern Californians began to control its terrain, the Delta was a place of constant change. Tides, floods, droughts and changes in sea level meant that the salinity of the water and the boundaries of the estuary were forever in flux. But now the Delta is defined by more than 1,000 miles of man-made levees protecting dozens of islands, many of which are used for farming. The levees also keep saltwater out of the Delta, making it easier to send fresh water south for drinking and irrigation.

But this man-made landscape is not sustainable. The islands are sinking, falling victim to decades of farming and the oxidation of the soil. As the elevation of the islands goes down, the pressure on the levees protecting them increases, making them more prone to failure and more expensive to maintain. The sea level, meanwhile, has been rising, presenting another threat to the levees and the freshwater transfer point that the Delta has become.

Read more of Daniel Weintrab’s column in the Modesto Bee by clicking here.

July 20, 2008 · Filed Under Other Delta Issues, Peripheral Canal