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Bay Area’s tricky choices about delta’s future

Posted by: Maven on April 12, 2009 at 7:41 am

From the San Francisco Chronicle, this commentary by Ellen Hanak, director of research and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, and Jay Lund, the Ray B. Krone Professor of Environmental Engineering and co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis:

Something must be done about the failing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Continuing to supply the Bay Area and other water users directly from the delta is the worst long-term strategy for native species and a poor strategy for California’s economy. The most promising long-term strategy for native fishes alone is to end water exports entirely, at a still greater water supply and economic cost.

The most promising strategy to restore the delta’s native fishes and ensure a reliable water supply for 22 million Californians is to build a suitable peripheral canal with substantial additional habitat investments. These are the conclusions of our recent analysis, published by the Public Policy Institute of California.

The delta – part of the largest estuary on the West Coast – is the Bay Area’s largest single water source. Since late 2007, water supplies from the delta have been reduced for many Bay Area users, due to declining populations of endangered native species, worsening the effects of a multiyear drought. Yet the current problem is small compared with the risk of a major earthquake, which would probably destroy many fragile levees, causing a rush of seawater toward the pumps that supply water to the Bay Area, Southern California and San Joaquin Valley and delta farms. The Bay Area as a whole could face a 30 percent loss of water supply for months or years.

Even if such a catastrophe is averted, the rising sea level and flooding of many islands will make the delta’s water saltier over time, reducing its suitability as a source of drinking water. These factors make current water management policies for the delta unsustainable.

Read the rest of this commentary by clicking here.

April 12, 2009 · Filed Under Delta Issues

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