The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the source of much of the state's drinking water, faces economic and environmental collapse, according to a public policy group that yesterday recommended a radical shift away from the water-management policies of the past 70 years.
The report by the Public Policy Institute of California suggests five possible fixes for the beleaguered delta, a 1,250-square-mile expanse of farmland, sloughs and marshes connected to San Francisco Bay.
The changes could include building a canal to divert fresh water around the delta or restricting water exports, the report said.
“The current delta and the way we're managing the delta now is really unsustainable for almost all stakeholders,” said Ellen Hanak, an economist at the institute. “Our levees are going to be increasingly unreliable. And it's our sense that even with the massive investments, that's not likely to change the sustainability of the system.”
Stretching from Sacramento to Tracy to Antioch, the delta is the hub of the state's water system and provides drinking water to more than 25 million residents. But it also is home to threatened native species, farmland and a growing population.
The report comes after voters in November approved a $4.1 billion bond to strengthen levees and improve flood control. The amount is just a fraction of the money state officials have said is needed to adequately repair the region's levees.
Report co-author Richard Howitt, an economist at the University of California Davis, said implementing the report's proposals could cost between $5 billion and $10 billion over the next 15 years.
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Proposed solutions
The report by the Public Policy Institute outlined five potential solutions:
 Build a peripheral canal to channel Sacramento River water around the delta to state and federal pumping stations north of Tracy.
Build a peripheral canal from the Sacramento River town of Hood but put the water into the San Joaquin River near Lathrop.
Fortify a string of levees as a way to create one channel to funnel water through the delta. The strategy also would isolate the state's water supply if failures occurred elsewhere.
Allow only seasonal water exports during winter and spring months when flows are high from Sierra snowmelt.
Manage the delta for the native fish and birds, maintaining water exports and roads as long as they don't interfere with wildlife.
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All the alternatives mentioned in the report involve abandoning the policy of managing the delta as a freshwater body – as has been the case for the past seven decades – to a system that fluctuates between fresh and salty conditions. That could help native species recover, experts said.
In recent decades, the delta has come under increasing economic and environmental stresses. Weak levees protect croplands and keep fresh water moving toward giant pumps near Tracy that send delta water to cities and farms in the south of the state.
The delta is also teetering on environmental collapse. Native species such as the delta smelt – considered an indicator of the region's ecological health – have dwindled drastically. Non-native freshwater plants and animals have invaded the area, placing further pressure on native species. Polluted agricultural drainage seeps into the waterways.
In general, government attempts to deal with the delta have failed.
“Something is going to happen in the delta whether we do something or not,” said Jay Lund, a study co-author and a civil and environmental engineering professor at UC Davis. “We're looking for a way where we're not so vulnerable.”
