Peripheral Canal Urged to Save the Bay Delta

The Public Policy Institute of California released a study that reports that the best way to supply water to Southern California and protect wildlife habitats is to build a "peripheral canal" around the delta. According to Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee, one of the key findings was that

Pulling water from the Delta interferes with natural flows and degrades water quality, thereby damaging wildlife habitat. While stopping exports would, perhaps, solve that problem, it would deprive California of its largest source of water.

Another finding was

"To be viable," the PPIC team said, "a long-term solution must include governance, regulatory and financial arrangements to ensure that various goals are well served, including water supply, environmental management, and the state's local interests in the Delta. It is unlikely that local and regional stakeholders can negotiate such arrangements on their own in a timely way, given the complexity of the problem and its innumerable stakeholders. Pursuit of a grand consensus solution for the Delta's many issues is likely only to continue the deteriorating status quo."

However farmers in the from the Delta and environmentalists that are opposed to the pipeline. Farmers are hurt by the lack of fresh water and environmentalists argue that the diversion of the water around the delta will hurt the ecosystem.

The proposed water bond by Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Feinstein at this time does not include language for a Peripheral Canal, but you never know what the final draft will look like.

The SF Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee both published stories about the report.

The actual report can be found here.

Photo by naotakem