Ethan Thompson

12/09/08
Team C
Per 4,5

Research Essay: The San Francisco Bay-Delta

Water is a growing issue in California

and as more dry weather approaches and as

California’s population significantly increases,

water management becomes critical. Currently

an acre-foot of water, or about 326,000 gallons

of water is only enough to supply two typical

families per year. This isn’t even mentioning

the 80 percent of California’s water used for

agriculture (“Facts”). Therefore, California has

a high demand for water, and one of the prime

resources for water is the San Francisco Bay-Delta.

For my research paper, I chose to research one of California’s most hotly-debated,

ongoing issues throughout the years, the San Francisco Bay-Delta. The Delta is formed

where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, fed by rain runoff from the Sierra Nevada

and lower Cascades, meet and merge into the San Francisco Bay. The Bay-Delta contains

over 130 species and 730,000 acres of rich farmland and wildlife habitat.

The first recorded sighting of the Delta was by a group of Spanish explorers in

1769. After the gold rush the population of farmers increased around the delta, changing

some of the marshes into rich farmland by building levees. During late 19th, early 20th

centuries, the Delta was popular for agriculture and fisheries. Flooding in the Delta
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12/09/08
Team C
Per 4,5

became more prevalent as large amounts of sediment piled up in the delta from the

hydraulic mining upstream. Hydraulic mining was finally outlawed in 1884, but the silt

still continued to slowly build up. These flooding problems, along with salt water

intrusion, and the need for water in other parts of the state, sparked the interest to create

storage and delivery systems. Thus, the creation of dams, such as the O’Shaughnessy

Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley in 1908, began. In 1935 the CVP, Central Valley Project was

authorized by the government to be in charge of flood control and navigation, water

supply, and hydro-electric power generation. Slowly the CVP grew until, by 1951, the

Delta became a large part of water exporting. A new project opened called SWP, or the

Feather River Project, and started pumping water out of the Delta too. In 1975 both

projects pumped a combined total of 4.8 million acre-feet; by 1996 their exports reached

9.7 million acre-feet. Throughout history the Delta was always mistreated and not

properly cared for, and this has led up to the current issues today.

The large piling of silt and sediment in the Delta over the years because of the

hydro mining has increased the chance for floods. The islands of farmland today are safe

from the river because of a delicate system of levees. The levees are one of the major

issues with the Bay-Delta as most of the Delta’s

islands are under sea level, so the 1,100 miles of

levees are constantly being built up and repaired

costing millions of dollars annually. The levees are

crucial to protect the water supply, farmland,

homes, industries, and some cities that are growing at an increasingly fast rate.
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12/09/08
Team C
Per 4,5

Government officials and Californian residents are worrying about the stability of these

levees and their withholding to future earthquakes. If a major earthquake occurs in San

Francisco, most of the levees would be ruined. If the levees are suddenly destroyed, all

the water would rush into the under-sea-level islands, forcing the sea water to be pulled

into the delta. This would then result a major shutdown of pumps because of water

quality. Additionally, it is estimated that 520,000 acres of farm land and 400,000 lives

would be at risk if the levees were to fail (“California’s Water”).

Another issue with the Bay-Delta is the extreme effects the pumping and

developing is having on the ecosystem and fish. The delta today has continued to grow

and is now one of California’s major water contributors, supplying water to over 23

million Californians and millions of acres of farm land (“California’s Water”). However,

the delta has a very rich and fragile ecosystem, which is being endangered by the

pumping facilities. The economic growth of the delta has increased as well over the

years, and now with thousands of motorboats and houseboats, the levees are weakening

from their wakes and the natural environment is being jeopardized. Throughout the years,

the overall fish populations and ecosystem have declined

because of the overfishing, gold mining, flood protection

and land reclamation. Furthermore, creating dams and

changing rivers’ flows has added to the crisis. The Delta smelt, common only to this Bay-

Delta, has decreased in population by 90 percent just in the past 10 years (“Layperson’s

guide to The Delta”). Also pollution is playing a big factor into the detrimental effects of

the Bay-Delta ecosystem as it continues to pollute the waters with chemicals both directly
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12/09/08
Team C
Per 4,5

and through air pollution. The air pollution is causing climate

change which will increase the sea level by a few inches,

therefore contaminating more of the delta with salt water.

Furthermore, during severe storms, it will result in damaged

levees and excessive flooding.

Another major issue with the Delta is the quality of the water. The worse the

quality of the water, the more difficult it is to clean, and the less water that is transported.

One of the main reasons why the water quality is such a large problem is because in the

rich organic soils of the region’s rivers there are certain organic materials that combine

with chlorine, used as a disinfectant, and create THMs, byproducts of the water treatment

process. Trihalomethanes, or THMs, are and are bad for the human health and can cause

cancer. Federal Drinking water requirements currently limit the level of THMs to 80 parts

per billion. Scientists have been trying to come up with other methods of disinfecting the

water without creating THMs. They have recently developed a method called Ozone

disinfecting, but it too has negative effects. When Ozone reacts with bromide, a

component in sea water, it forms bromate, another harmful, cancer-causing byproduct

(“Layperson’s guide to The Delta”). Thus, the Delta, connecting with the San Francisco

bay, encompasses an abundant source of bromide. Also, having

industries and household gutters constantly releasing chemicals and

toxins into the delta slows distribution, harms wildlife, and depletes

human health. When taking into account the costs of water filtration
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12/09/08
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plants, medical bills, and penalty fees against the environment, transporting water would

be much more cost effective if the government strived to keep the Delta clean.

It’s hard to compare the mismanagements and issues of the Bay-Delta with other

more effective models of water use, because of the range of variables affecting uniquely

the Bay-Delta. However, a good example of a place that uses water efficiently and

sustainably is Iceland. Recently Iceland set a new benchmark for the world in its carbon-

neutral, “NetZero” effect on the environment when producing the Icelandic Glacier water

bottles. The company does this by using only renewable energy sources, geothermal and

hydroelectric natural energy, to power the plant and by attaining their water supply

through a natural pressure of the Ölfus Spring without effecting the environment. The

water bottles are also 100% recyclable and were mostly made from recycled materials

(Olafsson). I believe the United States should follow in Iceland’s footsteps and adopt

their methods, ideas, and way of thinking.

Over the years, there have been several issues with Bay-Delta and its

management for water distribution efficiency and conservation. Today, half of the fresh

water that once flowed into the Bay-Delta is diverted to the San Joaquin Valley,

agricultural business, and cities. The best solution I see currently is to create awareness

and educate the public. By informing the communities about the various issues with the

Bay-Delta, more minds will contribute to various solutions. The least awareness will do is

make the audience understand the tragedy of using too much water and see the simplicity

of using less water more efficiently. This is the second solution I propose, to show the

public various and easy ways to conserve water. If nothing happens to address the issues
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12/09/08
Team C
Per 4,5

of the San Francisco Bay-Delta, inevitable events will occur and they will profoundly

devastate societies and financially harm the government. Taking no action will end up

hurting the nation to a greater extent than putting out the effort now to make change.