Last week, the Public Policy Institute of California released a study which piqued my curiousity because it talked about the decades-old political football — the peripheral canal. I asked the fine folks at PPIC if they would produce a blog-length intro to their study, which is below. At the bottom, there is a link to much more comprehensive information…
Peripheral canal can save ailing Delta, ensure reliable water supply
Public Policy Institute of California
Building a peripheral canal to carry water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the most promising strategy to balance two critical goals: reviving a threatened ecosystem and ensuring a high-quality water supply for California’s residents. That is the key conclusion of a report released this week by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
Under current policy, water is drawn from the Sacramento River and sent south through the Delta to enormous pumps that deliver it to millions of households in the Bay Area and Southern California and millions of acres of Central Valley farmland. This approach, which disrupts the natural water flow, has threatened native fish and made the Delta attractive to invasive species.
Furthermore, it is unsustainable. Projected sea level rise, crumbling ancient levees, larger floods, and high earthquake potential will inevitably result in a dramatically different Delta environment – one with saltier water that is much more costly to treat for drinking and ultimately unusable for irrigation.
Although it would be best for the fish if California stopped using the Delta as a water source, this would be extremely costly.
A peripheral canal is not only more promising than the temporary and ultimately unsustainable “dual conveyance” option – which combines the current approach with a canal – but it is also the best available strategy to balance two equally important objectives.
“Coupling a peripheral canal – the least expensive option – with investment in the Delta ecosystem can promote both environmental sustainability and a reliable water supply,” says Ellen Hanak, PPIC associate director and senior fellow, who co-authored the study with a multidisciplinary research team from the University of California, Davis
Among the report’s recommendations:
- Plan to allow some Delta islands to flood permanently. The state should invest in levees that protect high-value land, ecosystem goals, and critical infrastructure – and allow lower-value islands to return to aquatic habitat.
- Begin the transition from the current Delta management system. Over time, the current system will hurt the state’s economy. Planning for change now will make Californians less vulnerable to the potentially greater cost of earthquake, floods, or levee failures.
- Develop a new framework for governing and regulating the Delta. With the proper safeguards, a peripheral canal can be economically and environmentally beneficial.
“Choosing a water strategy is just the first step,” says Jay Lund, a professor of environmental engineering and one of six UC Davis co-authors of the report. “The technical, financial, and regulatory decisions necessary to plan for a new Delta are enormous. The governor and legislature need to be involved in setting up a new framework to manage the challenge.”
Here is the research brief of the report, Comparing Futures for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.