Water Ways

REPORT CALLS DELTA UNSUSTAINABLE

CALIFORNIA ALMONDS continues its look at studies released over the past several months that are likely to play a role in guiding future water policy and infrastructure decisions.

The Public Policy Institute of California's recent report on the future of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta deems building a peripheral canal to carry water around the Delta “the most promising strategy” to balance two critical policy goals: reviving a threatened ecosystem and ensuring a high-quality water supply for urban and agricultural users.

The Public Policy Institute is an independent research institute funded by various trusts. Its latest report on the future of the Delta called the current system “unsustainable” and said sending water from the Sacramento River via massive pumps through the Delta disrupts the natural water flow and threatens the ecosystem.

Risks from rising sea levels, crumbling levees, and natural disasters will inevitably result in saltwater intrusion that will make water in the Delta unsuitable for consumption, irrigation and current ecosystems.

In light of these challenges, the multi-disciplinary team that prepared the report concluded that a peripheral canal provides the best available strategy to balance environmental sustainability and water supply objectives.

Click here (4 MB) for a full copy of the PPIC report.