The Bay Delta System is Mind-Blowing

As a returnee to the Bay Area, and as I reorient my career to domestic water, my tour last week of the California Bay Delta with the Water Education Foundation was freakin’ awesome. Not only was it awesome because of the fascinating people, discussions & site visits on the tour, but also because the Bay Delta system itself is AWESOME. “Awe” is what I kept feeling about this crucial, dynamic, and fragile engine of our ecosystems and economy. 

It’s totally mind-blowing that we have this huge terminus of so many river systems, and the mixing with ocean waters…. all in one place. It’s the epicenter for the water we need for cities and towns, the food that we grow & fish, and the rich outdoor environments that captivate people from around the world. AND all day long, all days of the year, and over each passing decade, the conditions are constantly changing as influenced by tidal patterns, weather patterns and climate changes over huge areas. You see what I mean by “awe?”

Amidst this awe, here’s some specific things the tour made me think about in approaching water challenges. 

Let’s bring back a little audacity. 

I actually felt the most optimistic about our future when visiting one of the old pieces of infrastructure in the Delta - the Jones pumping plant. It was built from 1947-1951 as part of the state-funded Central Valley Project to convey water from the northern part of the state to the south. It lifts water up a 200ft hill where it then flows downhill for 113 miles. This is mind-blowing why? First, this was done with unsophisticated surveying equipment and they got it right that the water would roll all that way downhill. Second, the engineering design of the pump and the whole structure remains largely the same as the original construction. Damn!

Now I’m not usually one to geek out over giant infrastructure, but looking at this incredible pump system, designed and built 76 years ago, I was like my two year old when a fire engine goes by. Imagine the audacity to build these massive structures to move all that water! 

OK, we all know the water conveyance infrastructure from north to south has brought on massive environmental damage, and isn’t really sustainable in our reality of aridification and under-valuing of water. And that’s the problem we’re stuck solving for now. 

BUT how can we harness some of that really audacious thinking again now? What if that same spirit that drove “manifest destiny” of conquering the American West pushed us now to do seemingly unbelievable things to safeguard the future well-being of our planet? I think we could use it.

Some opposed interest groups are collaborating.

Given the limited water available for the cities, agriculture, and natural environment that comes through the delta, It’s no wonder we mostly hear about the crisis and the fights. And to be honest, what I learned on the tour does make me think the environment has really taken the brunt of it, with endangered fish species like the delta smelt possibly being gone, and the California coast being closed for salmon fishing for only the 3rd time in history.

But maybe reaching this point has actually pushed some of the Bay Delta stakeholders into compromising on solutions a little more. We heard from the Metropolitan Water District that sends water from the Delta to 19 million people in the south. After buying four islands in the delta decades ago, originally to pave the way for the infamous peripheral canal (and the current day iterations that may still go ahead), at least now they’re now making investments to turn these islands into natural wetlands. They’ve realized their own water quality depends on the health of the delta bay system and are investing in benefits from wetlands. 

We also heard a fierce and eye-opening presentation from Restore the Delta which advocates for environmental and human health. But tagged onto the last few minutes was mention of their collaboration on wetland restoration with orgs like the Metropolitan Water District. 

Another positive thing I noticed was constant mention of tribal involvement in decisions. And tour leaders made us aware of sites’ cultural significance to the many tribes that descend from the Delta lands. And it’s now wonder, given the awe one feels in appreciating the richness of the Delta. 

While being a returnee to the Delta it’s hard for me to judge, but I was encouraged that this kind of collaboration and dialogue was pointed out as a new win by some of the folks that have been working with Delta public agencies for decades.

Do we have the right systems and processes for managing a constantly changing resource?

One thing I realized as I considered pursuing work on the Delta is that there’s no real finish line. It’s a naturally dynamic system that will forever continue to be a resource amidst rapid climate changes and rapid changes in human usage. It’s about constantly managing a balance. Certainly there are new technologies and science that are helping us inform those management decisions. (LIke the new OpenET tool we heard the State Water Resources Control Board is trialing to get data on agricultural water use from satellites.) But at the end of the day it’s always about having the right systems and processes for stakeholders to find common ground on management decisions.

It seems the current system for this is the Delta Stewardship Council, which was created in 2009 to advance the co-equal goals of the delta - “a more reliable statewide

water supply and a resilient Delta ecosystem.” The council does this through implementing its Delta Plan which outlines the set of recommendations, regulations and performance metric that shall be used to manage the Bay. 

One thing I didn’t get a sense of  on the tour is whether stakeholders feel this current system is working as a way to find common ground on the management objectives. Though I guess by the various lawsuits we heard about brought by SFPUC and Restore the Bay, certainly not all are happy with the outcomes. And reasonably, discussing Council’s operations might have been too sensitive to debate on a tour like this (in which many Council staff were present), but I’m curious as to the evolution of the management systems for the Delta and how we think our current system is operating. I’m planning to join their next monthly meeting to see for myself.

What is clear, is that the almost impossibly complex management of the Delta needs lots of strong brains and advocates. With that, I have a huge appreciation for all of the folks that have dedicated their lives to this work, and hope thatI could share that appreciation just a little bit by writing this.

With that, it’s great to have an org like the Water Education Foundation making all of this visible through their tours and presenting unfiltered views from all stakeholders. If you can’t join their tour (which to be fair is aimed at folks working in water/environment/ag), you can do the virtual tour or read  lay-person’s guide to the Delta. But of course the most fun is to go make it a weekend adventure of outside fun & learning. So I highly recommend some of the great Delta sites, like East Bay Regional Park’s Big Break Shoreline, the Bay Model Visitor Center, The Aquarium of the Bay, or Rush Ranch (all stops on the tour as well!).