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Aquafornia Exclusive: Why the Delta matters to every Californian

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 3, 2007 at 11:24 pm

Anyone in California who remotely follows water news or current events has no doubt heard about the Delta, and the multitude of problems and issues facing this vital region. These issues, if left unresolved, can have huge ramifications for the entire state, but it can be hard to understand just how this relatively small area in Northern California could be of such concern to those of us living in Southern California, or elsewhere in the state. Many Californians, including some who live in the region, don’t even know where or what the Delta is, or why they should really care. What could the Delta possibly have to do with me?

Well, a lot, actually. Everyone in California depends upon the Delta for something, be it drinking water, fresh produce or livestock, goods shipped over the highways and railways that transverse it, or gas and electricity that is carried in pipes and transmission lines. Wildlife also depends on the Delta, as it provides a crucial habitat for wildlife, and an important stop for migratory birds.

The relatively small region has a big job: it is the hub of California’s massive water storage and delivery system, with water exports to agricultural and urban users in the Bay Area, Central California, and Southern California. Two-thirds of Californians rely on the Delta for their drinking water.

However, the Delta is in decline by all accounts.  Its levee system is fragile, many of its native species are declining, there are water quality issues in some areas, and no governmental entity seems to be squarely in charge. The issues facing it are complex and intertwined; it is virtually impossible to fix one problem without creating several others. However, in recent years, it has become obvious to all the stakeholders that ‘business as usual’ in the Delta region simply isn’t sustainable.

These issues, if left unresolved, will have ramifications for nearly every California resident. So, let’s take an in-depth look at the issues facing this unique region of our state.

WHERE AND WHAT IS THE DELTA?

The Delta is located east of the San Francisco Bay Area at the confluence of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers. The Delta forms the eastern portion of the San Francisco Estuary, which includes the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays. The Delta encompasses 738,000 acres, stretching inland nearly 50 miles. It includes portions of Sacramento and West Sacramento at its northern point, down to Tracy at its southern point, and spanning 25 miles from Antioch to Stockton. Five rivers flow into the Delta area, accounting for nearly half the snowmelt and runoff of the entire state.

The Delta is an estuary, which is the body of water that is formed when fresh water from rivers and streams meets the ocean and mixes with the salty sea water, creating a vibrant and unique ecosystem. The California Delta, in conjunction with the San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun Bays, is the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast, and is home to over 750 plant and animal species.

Once a vast marsh, unsuccessful miners turned to farming and began draining and reclaiming the land in the mid 1800s, encouraged by federal swampland reclamation laws and the Delta’s rich, fertile peat soil.  Levees were built, creating islands of productive farms, and by 1900, 250,000 acres had been reclaimed. Over the next thirty years, the amount of reclaimed land grew to nearly 450,000 acres, creating one of country’s most productive agricultural regions.

Today, the Delta is a maze of over 700 miles of waterways that traverse prime farmland and natural habitat areas, with levees surrounding numerous islands. The levees provide valuable habitat for wildlife, and the channels provide passageways for fish and boats and the water that flows to the export pumps. The Delta’s islands are sparsely populated, most of its villages small and quaint. There is a decidedly laid-back lifestyle to the Delta, in some places, a sort-of Huck Finn existence. Some islands are only accessible by boat, while others are connected by drawbridges, bridges, and ferries.

WHO USES THE DELTA?

Most of the islands in the Delta are used for farming, many of which have been held in the family for generations. The Delta’s rich, fertile soil supports one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. California has the largest agricultural economy in the nation, producing half of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables and 20% of the nation’s milk.  The main Delta crops are corn, grain and hay, alfalfa, tomatoes, asparagus, fruit, safflower, pears, and wine grapes.

The Delta is a popular recreation area, offering camping, hiking, bicycling, hunting and horseback riding. The labyrinth of the sloughs and waterways of the Delta are lush with vegetation, and offer boating, water skiing and fishing opportunities. Delta waterways are said to offer some of the finest boating opportunities in the country.  There are over 100 marinas and waterside resorts, RV Parks, grocery stores and dock-side restaurants, and houseboating remains popular. There are numerous public parks and fishing sites as well.

The Delta supports a vibrant fishery for both recreation and commercial purposes. Eighty percent of the state’s commercial fishery species either live in or migrate through the Delta, including four Chinook salmon runs, sturgeon, stripers, and bass. The Delta is home to a vibrant diversity of wildlife and birds, including millions of migratory birds and ducks who stop over on one of the last remaining wetland areas on the California coast.

Home to a growing population of over 500,000 residents, the Delta area includes portions of Sacramento and West Sacramento, Stockton, Walnut Grove, Pittsburgh and Antioch. Most of the population growth is in the periphery of the Delta in what is known as the “Secondary Zone”, with most of the inner islands remaining sparsely populated.

THE DELTA IS A CRITICAL LINK IN THE STATE’S INFRASTRUCTURE

Part of the transportation infrastructure of the state passes through the Delta region. Two major highways, I-5 & SR-99, cross the Delta on its periphery, and state highways 4 and 12 connect the Central Valley to the Bay Area.  Three major railway lines run through the Delta, and ships access the inland ports at Sacramento and Stockton located nearly 80 nautical miles inland from the Golden Gate Bridge through the deep water ship channels of the Delta.

The Delta is a vital link in the state’s utility infrastructure as well. Natural gas was discovered in the Delta in 1935, and today, the Delta serves as an important source of natural gas and as an important underground gas storage area. Electrical transmission lines also cross the Delta, some bringing power to the Bay Area, and others carrying power southward to the cities and farm of Central and Southern California.

But perhaps the most critical infrastructure function of the Delta is acting as a conduit for freshwater from the mountains to reach the pumps of the state and federal water projects, sending water south to irrigate the farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley, as well as to feed the faucets of Southern California.

THE DELTA IS THE HUB OF CALIFORNIA’S WATER SYSTEM

The Delta region is host to two of the largest surface water delivery systems in the world, and at least three smaller-scale municipal water systems. In addition, many Delta farmers irrigate their fields with water pumped directly from Delta canals. Nearly half of the states runoff from five major rivers empty into the Delta , and over two-thirds of California’s population, or 23 million people, get a portion or all of their drinking water from water projects flowing through the Delta. Water from the Delta is also used to irrigate millions of acres of prime farmland, supporting the nations #1 agricultural area, the San Joaquin Valley, and pumping $27 billion into the state’s economy.

In 1908, San Francisco damned the Tuolomne River, flooding Hetch Hetchy Valley, transporting the water via the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct across the southern Delta to San Francisco and other peninsula cities. Soon after, the East Bay Municipal Water District was formed and the Mokelumne River was diverted and carried by three parallel aqueducts to East Bay reservoirs to support the growing populations in Alameda and Contra Costa County.

Early on in California’s development, water resources became a main issue to support the massive population growth that came as a result of the gold rush area and connection of the transcontinental railroad. Seasonal flooding in the winter and spring, combined with summer salinity intrusion, created interest in a water storage delivery system, and so the Central Valley Project was born.

Completed in 1940 as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Central Valley Project was the first to use actual Delta channels as conduits for transporting water. The Contra Costa Canal and the Delta cross channel were built to facilitate transfer of the Sacramento River water to the C. W. “Bill” Jones Pumping Plant in the south Delta area. Friant Dam is also part of the CVP, capturing and storing fresh water that would otherwise flow into the Delta. The water supplied by the CVP is used to irrigate farmland and provide drinking water for the San Joaquin Valley, San Jose and the Silicon Valley, and parts of Contra Costa County as well.

In 1967, the State Water Project was completed, diverting Feather River water across Delta channels to the Harvey O. Banks pumping facility in the South Delta. Some of the water is diverted to supply portions of the Bay Area, while the remainder is pumped into the California Aqueduct, and used to irrigate additional farmland in the San Joaquin Valley, as well as provide drinking water for much of Southern California.

Any water left over after the multitude of diversions passes through the Delta and eventually enters the Bay through the Carquinez Strait, bringing with it rich nutrients, sediments, and fresh water necessary for the health of the Bay and maintaining diversity of the entire estuary.

THE CONDITION OF THE LEVEES

The Katrina disaster focused much-needed attention on the condition of California’s levees, and experts have warned the potential for a similar catastrophe happening here is high. Lawrence Roth, deputy executive director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said in a recent MSNBC article, “It’s got to be one of the more fragile infrastructure systems in the country right now”.

Most of the levees were built in the 1800s during the Gold Rush era when much of the marsh was reclaimed for farmland, and are merely piles of river muck. They were built by farmers or by Chinese laborers, and never were designed for long-term protection of homes and other structures. These levees were built to differing standards, and are owned and maintained by dozens of reclamation districts. Over time, these levees have been weakened by erosion, seepage, animal burrows and plant roots.

These fragile levees protect farmland, power lines, highways, oil and gas pipelines, and deep water shipping channels, as well as the supply of fresh water moving through the Delta. Numerous studies have found the Delta levees are continually deteriorating, and that repair and maintenance costs millions of dollars annually.

Much of levee network in the Delta (and throughout California) are built only to 100-year flood standards. (As a reference, New Orleans was built to 250-year flood standard.) California levees have failed 162 times in the last 100 years, and since reclamation projects began in the mid 1800s, every one of the Delta’s 70 islands or tracts has been either partially or completely flooded. The most recent flooding incident occurred in 2004, when, on a sunny day in June, the Jones Tract levee broke, inundating 12,153 acres of farmland and resulting in millions of dollars of damage.

At least two earthquake fault lines run through the Delta, and the United State Geological Service estimates there is a 62% probability of an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude or greater striking the Bay Area before 2032. According to a DWR report, a major earthquake in the Delta region would liquefy several portions of the levee system, causing at least 30 major levees to fail. Several Delta islands would be flooded as salt water from the San Francisco Bay would be sucked up into the Delta in what has become known as “the big gulp”. The pumps serving the state and federal water projects would have to be shutdown, cutting off a major portion of the drinking supply for two-thirds of the state. Major power and gas transmission lines would be damaged, impacting energy delivery throughout the state, and essential highways and railways would be inundated. The damage to the fragile ecosystem would be severe, and likely take decades to reverse.

The economic impact of such a catastrophic event would be felt for years. Over 85,000 acres of agricultural land would be flooded, and at least 3000 homes inundated, causing $30 billion in damage. Thirty thousand jobs would be lost. Repairs could cost another $30 to $40 billion and take two to three years to complete.

But earthquakes, unfortunately, are not the only risk. Climate change due to global warming is changing precipitation patterns, with more precipitation falling as rain instead of snow. Such rains can produce heavy runoff that increases the stress on the fragile levees and elevates the risk of flooding. In addition, global warming is creating rising sea levels, further elevating the risk of levee breakage.

The pressure on levees is further compounded by the fact that many Delta islands are now as far as 25 feet below sea level due to land subsidence. The soil that makes the farms so productive is rich in nutrients, but is prone to oxidation. Oxidation is caused by the exposure of the rich, peat soil to oxygen, converting organic carbon solids into carbon dioxide and aqueous carbon. The rich soil can oxidize as much as three inches in one year. This oxidation, called subsidence, requires that the levees be periodically raised and strengthened to support the increasing stress put on them.

The only way to avoid this impending catastrophe is by making a huge investment in levee maintenance and improvement. While some funds have been approved for levee repairs, there is much work that needs to be done. Flood risk needs to be adequately addressed by local agencies, and flood management systems need to be upgraded to account for the new housing developments now located in the flood plain.

A PRODUCTIVE ECOSYSTEM IS IN DECLINE …

Historically, the estuary as a whole has been a highly productive ecosystem, churning out millions of metric tons of fish and shellfish, and its vast food web supporting a rich variety of marine and wildlife. At one time, just the four runs of salmon alone numbered in the millions.

In the early 1900s, there were 21 canneries in California processing 5 million pounds of salmon annually, as well as sole, flounder, sardine, herring, and anchovy. With little regulation, however, overfishing soon caused the native species to decline. Hatcheries were established, and new species, such as the American shad and the striped bass, were introduced to boost the commercial fisheries, but fish populations continued to decline, resulting in commercial fishing bans and restrictions.

The Delta is home to over 750 plant and animal species. Some, such as the Delta smelt, are unique only to the Delta. Over 130 different species of fish, and 380 animals, mostly birds, call the Delta home.  It is also an important wintering habitat for the millions of migratory fowl on the Pacific Flyway.

Originally, out of 29 identified indigenous fish species, 12 of them are either threatened with extinction or have already become extinct. Endangered species include the spring-run and winter-run Chinook salmon,  and the Delta smelt. Other fish species are threatened as well, including longfin smelt, threadfin shad and striped bass. Water diversions, urban development, loss of habitat, impaired water quality due to pesticides, and increased competition from invasive species are all factors thought to be influencing the decline, and many scientists have warned that an ecological crash of the food web and the Delta food web is possible.

Environmental groups cite water diversions as a major factor for this decline. Fresh water diversions can be as much as 65% of the fresh water inflows, and pumping levels are sometimes so high that the flows of some of the rivers are reversed, confusing the fish and drawing them toward the pumps. The extraction of so much fresh water also pulls salty water farther inland, threatening the habitat for all kinds of Delta wildlife and fish.

Other groups cite other factors, such as lack of food, pollutants in the water, or invasive species. They contend that there are no reliable, scientific analyses that indicate that water diversions are the reason for the decline.

INVASIVE SPECIES AND PLANTS

The San Francisco Bay Estuary is sometimes described as the most invaded estuary in the world, and is now home to more than 250 exotic species that have become established there. Some of these species, such as the striped bass, white catfish, and American shad, were brought into the estuary intentionally, and they flourished alongside the native salmon runs, supporting commercial fisheries.

But other invasive species arrived in the estuary by other means. Ships can carry larvae of exotic species in their ballast water, and yachts can carry them in their bilge water. Fishermen sometimes toss leftover bait overboard, such as East Coast pile worms or minnows, and aquariums full of strange fish and other creatures are often dumped into the sloughs. Some of these plants and species have flourished, choking out native vegetation, impacting native species, and altering the food web. All of this has created a new, evolving ecosystem in the estuary.

One of the most problematic invasive species is the Asian clam. In vast portions of the intertidal zone, the Asian clam has displaced nearly all other invertebrates, reducing the biological diversity to near zero. The clams are voracious eaters of plankton, completely eliminating the plankton blooms in some areas. The clams are also thought to be one of the factors contributing to the decline of the Delta smelt.

POPULATION GROWTH

Agriculture has long been the central activity of the Delta region, but urbanization has been on the rise. The Delta’s proximity to the fast growing East Bay communities and to Stockton are increasing demand for housing, with over 150,000 new homes being built or planned. With this population growth will come greater demand for urban, environmental, and recreational uses.

Many subdivisions are being planned or built on Delta islands, or behind fragile levees. Increasing urbanization of this area raises the potential for millions of dollars of damage in the event of a levee break.

Escalating development in the flood plains is increasing the risk of flood damage, as state and local funding for levee maintenance has been reduced. Cities and counties have the authority to approve development, but bear no legal responsibility for flood protection. State agencies, such as levee maintenance districts, have no power to stop development and frequently suffer from inadequate funding, but yet still bear the legal responsibility for flood protection.  It has ramifications for us all: some owners whose property was damaged by faulty levees have successfully sued the state for compensation.

WATER QUALITY

An extensive network of drainage ditches keeps the Delta islands from flooding. Since many of them are already 10 to 25 feet below sea level, the islands must be pumped to keep the groundwater levels deep enough for crops to grow, as well as prevent flooding. Many farms are allowed to discharge this drainage directly into the Delta, flushing pesticides and fertilizers into the waterways. DDT, banned in 1972, still can be found in some of the channels and tributaries.

Agricultural drainage also contributes to salinity problems, especially along the San Joaquin River. There are thousands of drains which dump irrigation draining directly into the waterways. The salt content of the discharge water is high, and sources of fresh water to dilute it are limited. Sometimes, during the hot, dry summer irrigation season, the flow in some portions of the San Joaquin River consists almost entirely of agricultural drainage. These salty flows increase the salt content of downstream water and increase the amount of salty water flowing into the estuary.

The massive water diversions can alter water quality in the Delta because fresh water releases from the reservoirs aren’t enough to push back and dilute the salty ocean water flowing in from San Francisco Bay. Fresh water flows into the Delta are important to maintaining the water quality in the Delta, because when too much fresh water is diverted, the salty seawater can penetrate far upstream, endangering municipal supplies and reducing agricultural crop productivity. And with less fresh water flowing through, there is less water to flush the pollutants and agricultural discharges out of the Delta.

THE WANGER COURT DECISION CUTTING BACK WATER EXPORTS

In March 2007, a state court ruled that DWR was in violation of the California Endangered Species Act by repeatedly failing to protect the smelt and endangered salmon over the last two decades. The judge threatened to shut down the pumps in 60 days, but the decision was appealed. In May, Judge Oliver Wanger, a federal court judge, threw out the federal permit, ordering all parties back to the court in August 2007.

Meanwhile, fish population surveys in May 2007 turned up the lowest number of smelt ever – just 25. After the alarming report was released, the Delta pumps were shut down in order to protect the remaining smelt. The pumps were off for ten days; afterwards pumping slowly was restarted, but eventually returned to normal levels.

The case was heard in Judge Wanger’s court in August 2007. Environmentalists argued that increased water exports were responsible for the rapid decline of the species, while other experts argued that other factors, such as invasive species and toxins, were responsible. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Wanger ordered water exports cut from 6 to 33% during the months of December through June, in order to protect the smelt. “The evidence is uncontradicted that these project operations move the fish. It happens and the law says something has to be done about it,” said Wanger.

Environmentalists generally praised the ruling, but expressed concern that the measures didn’t go far enough. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a press release, calling the ruling ‘a devastating blow to our water supply and economy’, while Jeff Kightlinger of Metropolitan Water District stated, “Judge Wanger’s decision to cut back water supplies doesn’t address various other Delta problems and issues. Invasive species will continue to deplete food supplies for Delta smelt, pesticide runoff that can harm the estuary will persist, and the levee system will remain vulnerable to earthquakes and rising sea levels caused by climate change.”

SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

The Delta area is an area of striking contrasts. On the one hand, it is an area of great beauty and a recreational paradise. It’s a vital habitat for birds, fish, and other wildlife. It has a culture all of its own – a place where time can sometimes feel like it’s standing still. On the other hand, much is expected of the Delta, as it supports numerous water projects, infrastructure, and a vital agricultural economy. And it’s becoming home to more and more people.

In February, the Public Policy Institute released a study on the Delta. Researchers from UC Davis took a look at all the possible alternatives for fixing the Delta, and identified the nine most viable ones. These are all outlined in a report titled, “Envisioning Futures for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta”. In the research brief accompanying the report, the writers point out, “Going forward, Californians will need to recognize that the Delta cannot be all things to all people. Tradeoffs are inevitable. The challenge will be to pursue an approach that yields the best outcomes overall, accompanied by strategies to reasonably compensate those who lose Delta services”.

There is a growing acknowledgment among all stakeholders that something must be done, but reaching a consensus among the various groups is a daunting task. Finding a solution that addresses all the needs and issues facing the Delta will be difficult, as well as expensive, and developing a plan that makes all the Delta users happy will be a challenging task, if not impossible.

But find a solution we must, because the stakes for the entire state are simply just too high.

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September 3, 2007 · Filed Under Aquafornia Exclusives, Articles, Delta Issues

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