Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

In response to this article, Newsom offers Delta compromise, a guest commentary that says, “Delta interests should seize the opportunity to cease water fights”, the California Delta Chambers & Visitor’s Bureau chimes in and says “No!”:

The California Delta Chambers & Visitor’s Bureau opposes diverting the Sacramento River around the Delta. We have never made a distinction over the method of diversion whether it be canals, tunnels, or any other conveyance. Diverting the river will destroy what is left of the Delta. The water barons in the south will want as much water as they can get out of the system and they will not finance it unless they are assured of this. We do not trust them! Over the last 12+ years we have asked officials to give us a few examples of where a project like this has not destroyed the parent waterway, so far they have produced – none. We have also asked for a study to determine how much water can be removed from the system without destroying fish and wildlife populations – they have refused to do so, we think it is somewhere in the 3 million acre-foot range. Don’t be fooled by this new scheme. A common ploy of government organizations is to ask for twice as much as you expect to get and settle for half and call it a compromise.

If the river needs to be diverted then do it at Sherman Island which will enhance the natural flow, cost less, and be self-regulating as far as salt intrusion.

We agree! The Sherman Island site is what Dr. Robert Pyke proposed years ago, and is also what Rep. Garamendi is pitching. It is referred to as the “Western Alignment.” The beauty of taking water there is that the water would have already flowed through the Delta, providing the fish what they need and keeping the water in the Delta fresh for Delta farms, boating, and recreation. That plan is self-regulating. That is, if too much water is extracted for the health of the Delta, the salt water would intrude at Sherman Island. But in years like right now, when water is flowing rapidly through the Delta, they could be pumping tons of water to ship South to refill the aquifers there, the reservoirs, and the Kerns Water Bank.

Some people who read my blogs mistakenly think STCDA may be for the tunnels if they move them out of the Delta and go East, around the Delta. No, that isn’t true. The truth is that if they ignore everyone in the Delta and still move to build them, going East or West would at least not destroy the Delta communities, boating, and fishing for ten years. Any tunnels operated with the same abandon that DWR and the Water Contractors have displayed for decades will destroy the Delta long-term.