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Welcome to
  
(i.e. what the government is doing right now to revise the Delta-not
restore it but "revise it" )
The Delta is the
cornerstone of California’s agricultural economy, the
cornerstone of California’s water supply resource,an important
natural causeway for many native fish species such as salmon,
the prime northern California freshwater recreation area with 700+
navigable miles of freshwater rivers and sloughs to explore from
over 100 marina and camping facilities, and emerging world class
wine grape production region.
The Delta and San Franciso Bay area, combined, are the
cornerstone of California’s history, as the first major population
areas were in the bay and the cities along the transportation
routes…the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River.
Basically the
"preferred alternative" of a central canal, as described in the
CalFed 2000 ROD is being built in sections RIGHT NOW even though the
vast majority of Californians said NO in the 1982 vote on a
Peripheral Canal! A modified central canal is being built in
sections, as "regional projects", and under other names.
 Go
ahead and take a drive around the Delta...go to the end of Empire
Tract...watch the Sacramento County lot line adjustment (and levee
setback) of Dead Horse Island, notice the levee improvements
of the last 5-7 years along the Mokelumne River sections within the
Delta region, take a good look at the information on the Freeport
Pumps, take note of the plans for physical barriers to stop
fish from getting to the export pumps, notice the completion of the
intertie, notice that CCWD built a siphon on Victoria Tract per
photos on their website....all of this adds up to the 2000 CALFED
ROD, revised in 2004. They are on
schedule for construction of much of the conveyance portion of the
ROD...its just the "restoration" projects that are lagging behind.
NOTE!
DRMS Phase 2 has been published,
even though corrections to Phase 1 "science" was never completed.
Go to the 2011 Documents for links. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan draft document has been
published at
http://baydeltaconservationplan.com Same story:
people outside the Delta want to take 10% more Delta water, this time
from the Sacramento River, and they are trying to figure out how to
do it without killing even more fish, without significantly reducing
water quality for Delta area users, and without voter approval.
At the same time, notice was posted in the Federal Register that the
deepening of the Sacramento and Stockton ship channels will be
moving forward, which will also impact Delta water salinity and
flows. And you might want to watch for the notices that will
turn on the Freeport pumps, and dredge the Mokelumne River(s), and
use Bacon Island for "emergency water storage/flood control" instead
of what they used to call that plan: "In-Delta storage".
The "intertie" between the State Water Project and the Central
Valley canal has been completed before any long term Delta plan was approved.
(click
on graphics to open full sizes of each)
To get a quick understanding of what is being planned in the
Delta, you can go to the 2004 "call to action" slideshow of the
Metropolitan Water District found
at
http://www.scag.ca.gov/wptf/pdfs/wptf20040408_deltapack.pdf
or go to our "2004 documents" list to see a copy of the same.
.
This whole CALFED process to validate
taking more water out of the Delta was planned out and funded years
ago, and the "Blue Print" is the 2000 Record of Decision found on
our
2000 documents page.
Here's a graphic to show what has been planned:
New page:
Near Term Central conveyance building blocks
The purpose of this website
it to provide the reader with easy access to documents, maps and
visual aids related to the last 15 years of planned attack on California's Delta.
As we continue to research
the different agencies that have been involved in developing the
studies, maps and reports, it has become very clear that the true
goal is the
building and operation of the CENTRAL canal in the near term, which will
by itself take the Sacramento River water away from a majority of the
Delta lands, thereby creating a salt water marsh "estuary"
on the southwest side of the canal.
Please click on the map to the lower right for a visual summary of
the central conveyance and in-delta water storage plans already in
process and "shovel ready" to be built by 2012.
Page links you should look at:
Timeline
Summary
Planning Maps
All Maps
1998
2000
Central conveyance building blocks
Once the Central Canal is completed, the Delta will be split East
and West, and the West side of the Central Conveyance will become
more salty over time, to look more like an "estuary" than the
historic Delta.
Central and South
Delta farmers with riparian water rights will probably no longer be able to
grow their produce on their Delta lands if this central canal is
built. We are compiling a table showing how
many additional acre feet of water will be taken from the Delta through the
Central Canal. It appears water districts from outside the
Delta met in 1998-2003 and resolved to move forward with their plans to
take more Delta water, despite the clear ongoing damage to the
environment of the Delta. You might want to look up the 1998
"Environmentally
Optimal Alternative" report funded by the David & Lucille
Packard Foundation that promotes the central conveyance option or canal, and the 2003
supposed "Napa
Proposition" and "preferred alternative" when the water & power brokers met in Napa to determine
the Delta's fate without Delta landowner's input.
The facts
are that from 2001 to 2005 various legal processes were completed so
that "Maps of conveyance and
storage" (IDS) and the
central canal plan
could move forward with or without voter approved funding, since
Metropolitan Water District, and Westlands Water District could put
up funding for the conveyance part of the project.
In bits and pieces they put together the building blocks for the
Central Canal, and will
now move forward with the "near term actions". The 2 gates are a
necessary ingredient of the overall central canal.
The two temporary gates will most likely lead to at
least four permanent gates, as the rest of the Central Canal
sections are completed, in the author's opinion.
Click on the map to the right for enlarged version, or go to the
2 to 4 Gates Project maps update
which shows many
other maps and concepts.
The summary map below was compiled from EIR/EIS
maps and reports from 2001 to 2005, combining several sources, each
of which indicate permanent barrier gates will be needed to keep
fresh Sacramento River flowing to Clifton Court Forebay.
Near Term Central conveyance building blocks
The "In-Delta" storage plans are finally
being shown to the general public, with notices sent out about a
30-day review which was received on 5-14-2010.
http://deltawetlandsproject.com/ has the EIR/EIS docs.
The Delta Stewardship Council have only met a few times and already
state-approved actions to destroy the Delta are being presented...so
what will the Delta Stewardship Council do about these plans?
SEE FAIR USE NOTICE REGARDING THIS
WEBSITE |
1-18-2012 updates
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS HAPPENING NOW IN THE DELTA
There are many different
planning agencies coming together in the latest attach of the Delta.
http://www.deltacouncil.ca.gov/draft-eir is in the 60 day
comment period now. Go to this PDF for the links to some of
the other major agencies that have been planning the revisions to
the Delta:deltalinks.pdf
updates added to
"Issues" section:
Sacramento River water
flow
north_delta_low_flow_effect.pdf
Notice: We have been adding
literally thousands of pages of reports, and hundreds of historic
maps and planning maps. In 2010 and 2011 so many different
agencies have issued so many reports, it's almost impossible to keep
up with it. In our opinion, the agencies to watch for more
current posting online are DWR,
DSC,
BDCP and
F&G.
They have been allowing the ongoing increase of export of water from
the Delta. Some of the
map pages have been
reorganized for easier viewing.
Other issue
document sets:
Elevations-Fact vs Fiction,
Computer Modeling. See also past uploads "Science
Challenge" (water flow data),
Survey Maps,
including the Atwater maps for 1978-82. Also see: "Wrong
Maps of the Delta"
Lately we started uploading
Surveys of
Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta islands
so the viewers can compare for themselves Delta fact vs Delta
fiction New
videos and slideshows are
available too!
Other videos:
Controlled flooding
of the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta
click on picture above for series of videos about the
FACTS on delta historical floods, not the media hype! Or click
below for a 4-minute video about Delta
people, but come back to see more planning maps here!
Updated Map pages
01/18/2012:
Sacramento San Joaquin shipping ***
Water
salinity toxins wq
Fish, fish and more fish!
Delta Land Use &
Ownership
Elevations, Seismic and Subsidence
Floods,
Islands and Levees (see videos!)
In-Delta
water storage
Conveyance and
Canal plans
Barriers and
Gates
Water flow
and use
Summary of Delta Issues
Fish vs Farmer?
Farmer vs Developer?
Private land owners vs Government take over?
Boating vs fishing? Restorations vs revision?
West side water rights vs everyone else?
North vs South? East Bay vs Delta-Bay?
Corporate farming vs family farming?Take your pick...all
issues are on the table in this epic Delta battle unfolding now!
Links to online videos
covering important Delta-related topics: LEARN THE
FACTS! Cut & paste web address to your web browser address bar:
One reason for the New Delta
Plan:
http://aquadoc.typepad.com/waterwired/2009/10/video-presentation-lloyd-g-carter-on-californias-water-mess.html
Delta People & places on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmpVV3bq9M
Interesting UC Berkeley seminar...skip past
introductions if you want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXhZZwtSrLk
Learn how the
DRMS is WRONG
regarding certain Delta islands and flood history
Click on any map in the website to see the full size of the map
This painting shows the historic Chrysopolis paddle wheeler
traveling on Steamboat Slough on its midnight run in the 1890's
Delta days.
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The amount of
California tax dollars that has been spent to generate reports in
support of the new Delta Plan is staggering. From
documentation it appears that a decision was made by the water czars
in 2000 to switch to a new Delta Plan, and the lead agencies were
advised in January 2001 their Delta restoration focus should be
Delta-wide, not just the South Delta area. Take a look at the
document trail starting with 2001 to 2005. Of course, the
studies can be validated (if one would ask) by the decisions in the
1990's regarding safe water flow for
the Delta. Note the 2003
letter from our governator, sent to our senators BEFORE he was
governor. Note the 2006 letter from the governator to several
CA state legislators. We have not been
able to get a clear picture of the total funds or where the funds
came from so instead we will start uploading the literally hundreds
of thousands of pages of studies, slideshows and reports generated
in the last few years to support the "dual conveyance" plan while
also looking at areas of the delta that could be restored as
mitigation for the damage to be done by taking extra water.
Over the next few weeks, we will be uploading the documents, most in pdf format and all assumed to be indented for public viewing as they
were generated by public entities or else private entities paid for
by public funds, and therefore appropriate for public viewing at
this time, without infraction of any copyright laws.
Then, as
now, the state may pay for levee improvements to protect STATE
interests, like avoiding flooding in Sacramento area and stopping
salt water intrusion into the Delta so that the water will be good
enough for transport to other areas of California.
A short history of California's water
wars from the perspective of a Delta landowner:
In the 1850's to
1900's the state sold lands owned in the Delta area to individuals
who wanted to reclaim land for farming and other beneficial uses.
People purchased their lands and built up the existing natural
levees to protect against floods. In the meantime, refuse from
the gold mines washed downstream in the winter months, literally
filling up some of the formerly naturally deep waterways with silt
and mining muck. The "Middle Fork" of the Sacramento River, a
naturally deep passage for boats traveling from San Francisco to
Sacramento, later renamed Steamboat Slough, is an example. By
1880's this river was not useable in low tides due to all the
silting. In the 1910's
and thereafter, the Federal government agreed with California state politicians that protecting
some levees and waterways in the Delta were important to assure flood protection
for Sacramento area, and also to assure fresh water supply through
the Delta. Hence using some of the "New Deal" infrastructure
monies, certain levees were improved and thereafter labeled "project
levees". The Federal government also built the first of two
main water channels or aqueducts to carry some of the water from the
Delta down to the growing SoCal cities, especially Los Angeles.
Later, California decided to do another water project, so that more
water could be taken from the Delta to send to barren lands of the
Central Valley, like Fresno and Kern counties. The farmers on
the east side of the Central Valley had primary water rights because
their water had been taken from the San Joaquin River where they
riparian water rights. The farmers on the west side of the
Central Valley, however, had to contract for water, and their
contracts allowed them water ONLY when there was enough water in the
Delta to ship out. Their water rights are called secondary and
in low rain years they might not get the water allotment they had
contracted for. The Westland Water District was formed to
protect the water contract rights of these farmers, and to work with
the state to find more consistent sources of water for the Central
Valley farmers on the west side of the valley.
In the 1960's the State of California water wonks came up with an
idea for a California-built canal that would go around the Delta, taking the fresh
Sacramento water to the then-new California aqueduct to send it on down south.
1965
Map. It didn't get built because folks thought it was a
bad idea to mess with the wonderful Delta. In 1980 the same
"peripheral canal" idea was put to a vote of the people of the state
and again it was turned down as a bad idea. Starting in 2003
and earlier, a group of mostly SoCal large land owners started
pushing for the idea again and the current governor allowed millions
in state funds to be used for studies to validate why NOW would be a
better time to build that same canal that was considered a bad idea
before. This time they call it "Dual Conveyance".
We've been gathering more documents, most in pdf
format, so our viewers can open and read the documents. It
appears about One Billion Dollars of the California deficit must
have been spent on all these reports, studies, proposals and
meetings. So what is all this Delta talk about anyway?
... Simply stated, the drinking water of the state is taken
mostly from the San Joaquin River and so much water is being taken
out that the salt water from the San Francisco Bay is merging with
the fresh water, which makes it to salty for drinking and farming
without extra filtering or treatment. So instead, some state
agencies want to take the water out of the Sacramento River.
Sounds simple, but it isn't. By taking more water out of the
Sacramento River, the very productive Delta islands around the lower
Sacramento River will potentially be ruined by the extra salt water
that will infiltrate the Sacramento River. There's also the
complications of various fish species failing to thrive due to the water
suction pumps, which suck up and kill the fish.
More to
come... |
