Peripheral canal idea resurfaces in new study

SAN FRANCISCO
July 17, 2008 11:42am

The idea of carving a canal around the periphery of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta has resurfaced in a new study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

It says that building a peripheral canal to carry water around the Delta is the most promising strategy to balance two critical policy goals: reviving a threatened ecosystem and ensuring a high-quality water supply for California’s residents.

California voters rejected a previous proposal for a peripheral canal in a bitter election campaign in 1982.

“It’s critical that all sides come together around a consensus plan that can be approved by voters in November,” says Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow. Mr. Snow did not take a specific stand on the idea of a peripheral canal in a statement released by his office Thursday.

Under current policy, water is drawn from the Sacramento River and sent south through the Delta to enormous pumps near Tracy that deliver water 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, the PPIC report says.

“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,” PPIC says.

Although it would be best for fish populations if California stopped using the Delta as a water source altogether, this would be an extremely costly strategy, according to the report, authored by a multidisciplinary team including Ellen Hanak, PPIC associate director and senior fellow, and Jay Lund, William Fleenor, William Bennett, Richard Howitt, Jeffrey Mount, and Peter Moyle from the University of California, Davis.

The PPIC-UC Davis team concludes that 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 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,” Ms. Hanak says.

Among the report’s recommendations:

• Plan to allow some Delta islands to flood permanently. The state should invest in the 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. The current system is harming the native fish now, as federal court rulings have found, the report says, adding that over time, it will hurt the state’s economy.

• Develop a new framework for governing and regulating the Delta. With the proper safeguards, a peripheral canal can be economically and environmentally beneficial, the report says. It is a more cost-effective strategy than dual conveyance, which, because it relies on continued pumping through the Delta, is an interim solution.

The Public Policy Institute of California describes itself as a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to informing and improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research on major economic, social, and political issues. The institute was established in 1994 with an endowment from William R. Hewlett.