California’s Broken Water System
The backbone of California’s water supply is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, one of the largest estuaries in North America. The Delta supplies 3 million acres of farmland and two of three Californians with water — 25 million people.
In the 1950s and 60s, the state built the State Water Project and Central Valley Project to move some of that water throughout California to agricultural hubs and urban regions stretching from the Bay Area to San Diego.
When snowpack from the Sierra Nevada melts, it runs through the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers into the Delta. In the south Delta, water is diverted into the Clifton Court Forebay, screened for fish at the Skinner Fish Facility and then pumped into the South Bay and California Aqueducts.
There are quite a few problems with the current system.
To begin with, it’s bad for fish. The system is located right in the heart of endangered fish habitats and to protect these species the state often has to shut pumping down even at the risk of reduced water supplies. This is especially important while fish are migrating but unfortunately, migration often occurs during the winter months when we could otherwise capture and store excessive runoff.
What’s worse, the pumps actually reverse natural flows of the rivers, pulling fish toward predators or into the system. Because the system can’t be properly screened to protect fish, we end up with a process where fish are lifted out with buckets, loaded onto trucks and hauled to a safer release spot. Over 15 million fish a year are saved but you have to ask yourself — isn’t there a better way?
The current set up is also incredibly dependent on levees. A levee is meant to hold back the occasional rush of water but Delta levees are constantly working to protect land well below sea level from flooding. The region has been plagued by failed levees — nearly one a year over the last hundred years. The most recent was in 2004 and cost $90 million in repairs.
These levees and the state’s clean water supplies are at increasing risk from climate change and earthquakes.
Scientists expect sea levels to rise at least 5.5 feet within the next 90 years and many experts think it will rise higher, faster. This means more pressure on the levees and more salt water intrusion on the state’s fresh water supplies. The risk from climate change is only slightly overshadowed by the damage that could be caused by an earthquake. The USGS claims a 72% probability of a 6.7 or higher magnitude earthquake before 2043 that could lead to severe cuts in water supply and billions of dollars in repair.
Nearly everyone can agree that this 50-year-old system isn’t working although not everyone agrees on how to fix it. The state has proposed California WaterFix to achieve the dual goals of improving both the Delta ecosystem and water supply reliability. Discussions around the Delta and WaterFix are heating up this year and after another dry year, it’s clear that we need to make some decisions sooner rather than later.
I plan to use this blog as a place to explore California water, especially the Delta and the state’s plan to address these concerns. Hopefully, it will start a discussion on the increasingly important role the Delta plays in our state.
