Tag Archives: Delta

ECOS Water Committee – Future of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, join us on Wed. Jun 22, 2022 at 3:00 pm

Jeffrey Mount is a senior fellow at the PPIC Water Policy Center. He is an emeritus professor of earth and planetary sciences and founding director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis. A geomorphologist who specializes in the study of rivers, streams, and wetlands, his research focuses on integrated water resource management, flood management, and improving aquatic ecosystem health. He has served on many state and federal boards and commissions that address water resource management issues in the West. He has published more than a hundred articles, books, and other publications, including the seminal book California Rivers and Streams (UC Press). He holds a PhD and MS in earth sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Dr. Mount has recently authored a paper tracking where the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta’s water goes in our changing environment. He will discuss his finding during the Committee’s June meeting.

Date: June 22, 2022
Time: 3:00 PM
Zoom meeting address: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6656164155
To phone in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 665 616 4155

Dr. Mount will discuss the issues facing the Delta, and what future actions may be necessary to preserve both its water supplies and environment in our changing world.

The Delta is California’s largest estuary and a vital hub in the State’s water system.
• 40% of the State’s runoff flows into the Delta
• 30 million residents and more than 6 million acres of farmland are supplied water from the Delta
• Water stored in Folsom Reservoir is used to help preserve and maintain water quality in the Delta
• The delta is dramatically different today from what it was 150 years ago.

Today, three interlinking issues face the Delta.
• An increasingly unreliable water supply
• A decline in ecosystem health
• A fragile system of levees

The Delta’s future is uncertain.
• The Delta tunnel conveyance project
• Climate change impacts on the Delta proper and Upstream water sources
• Addressing saltwater intrusion and the Delta ecosystems
• Maintenance and repair of the levee system

Come and join us for an enlightening and thoughtful discussion.

Will major scandal at Metropolitan Water District save Delta communities from the tunnel?

By Scott Thomas Anderson | March 2, 2021 | Sacramento News and Review

Metropolitan Water District, the driving financial and political force behind the proposed Delta tunnel, has suddenly found itself on the verge of losing one of its most important customers – the City of Los Angeles. The possibility of a break between California’s largest city and its largest water contractor comes after a host of women and members of the LGBTQ community said they were victims of sexual harassment, intimidation and retaliation while working for the latter.

The revelation has drawn MWD into a new arena of fire, one that’s separate from its ongoing standoff with conservationists, indigenous tribes, regional farmers, tax watchdogs and Northern California’s fishing industry about the future of the Delta.

“…There’s a real sense of imperialism with Met when it comes to how they treat the Delta communities, and now it seems like that’s something that might carry through to other aspects of its organization,” said Osha Meserve, an attorney who represents the Delta’s reclamation districts. “This could be really destabilizing for the tunnel project. There’s significant potential for LA to be a leader in coming up with some minimum standards for what kind of agency they want to get water from. If Met doesn’t share their values, whether it’s the treatment of women or destroying the environment, then they should step away.”

Click here to read the article in full.

ECOS/Habitat 2020 Concerns with Latest Delta Tunnel Plan

On April 17, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) and Habitat 2020 submitted our comments, under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), on the latest iteration of the Delta Conveyance Project.

Our concerns include the following:

  • Project needs to be defined clearly
  • Appropriate alternatives must be considered for the project as a whole
  • Appropriate Alternatives must be considered for infrastructure components
  • Impact of mechanically assisted flows in the tunnels need to be analyzed
  • Analysis needs to assume that all Reusable Tunnel Material (RTM) will need to be disposed, rather than repurposed
  • Accurate transportation impacts must be provided
  • Impacts to Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge need to be avoided
  • The full impacts of transmission lines need to be included
  • Transmission line strikes need to be analyzed for foraging Sandhill Cranes

Click here to read our letter in full.

Photo above by Osha Meserve

Save the Delta, Stop the Tunnel

Take Action!

Deadline: April 17, 2020 (Close of Business)

For those of us at home, the feeling of helplessness can be real. BUT we can still help the earth! Right now, you can take action to Save the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Please share! And take care.

Barring another extension, comments on the Department of Water Resources’ Notice of Preparation for the Delta Conveyance Project Environmental Impact Report are now due on April 17th. Please write a short letter asking for a full review of this massive project’s devastating impacts on the environment. Click here for the Delta Conveyance Notice of Preparation, published January 15, 2020. Click here for some previously submitted comment letters.

We encourage you to:

  • educate yourself on the Delta Conveyance Project,
  • share this message; and
  • send an email with your letter, if you can.

Learn More

Click here to learn all about the Delta Conveyance Project, aka “The Tunnel.”

Photos by Osha Meserve.