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Desired Outcomes for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta:
Summary of Responses from the Restore the Delta Symposium
About 113 attendees took advantage of our invitation to identify a desired outcome for the symposium. We grouped comments and put them in categories to make them easier to summarize. Some comments were split between two categories. The categories are shown below, from most comments per category to fewest.
One observation about this admittedly not-very-scientific analysis: Although comparatively few comments spoke of agriculture specifically, many addressed issues such as water quality, water rights, and exports that directly impact agriculture. So agricultural concerns definitely had a voice.
Restore and maintain water quality in the Delta and Suisun Bay
The largest group - 24 people (21%) - wrote about restoring and maintaining water quality in the Delta and Suisun Bay. People expressed concerns about saltwater intrusion, sewage discharge, pesticide run-off, mercury, e. coli, and hazardous waste from rusting vessels. Someone mentioned making recycled water easier to reintroduce back into rivers and streams. Another wanted to see more fresh water from the San Joaquin River enter the Delta. Someone else mentioned Restore the Delta's ongoing quest to find out how much water or flow is necessary to keep the Delta healthy.
Increase public awareness
Eighteen people (16%) raised issues that related to increasing public awareness of the Delta and of water issues. Several commented on the need for more education at all levels, both through traditional education and via print and electronic media; others noted that greater public access to the Delta itself would help our effort to give Californians a sense of the Delta as "place."
Respondents noted that we need to avoid just talking to ourselves and reach out to those outside the Delta, including people in Southern California who understand the need to protect the Delta. There were also calls for more economic data about damage caused by water exploitation, and for better access to reports on exports and to biological status reports.
One comment addressed the issue of public awareness especially well: It called for ?recognition by the legislature, government agencies, stakeholders, and the public that California's water resources are finite, variable from year to year, and currently over-allocated, and that the State needs to conduct a comprehensive review and reallocation (re-adjudication) of the State's public trust resource with the objective of balancing all needs and beneficial uses.
Address governance and water rights
Fifteen respondents (13%) focused their comments on governance or Delta water rights. Some called for a conservancy, others for a local governing board or a Delta stewardship committee. One said that we need to overcome north, central, south, and east divisions in the Delta so that we can speak with one voice.
Several said that governance needed to be non-political. Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow came in for some direct criticism, and one respondent expressed a desire to see laws and enforcement concentrate "top to bottom" rather than "making scapegoats of least and lesser transgressors."
End dependence on the Delta by those outside the Delta
Twelve people (11%) identified outcomes related to ending dependence on Delta water. Although most symposium attendees likely oppose a peripheral canal or other alternative conveyance, only three people named that as a desired outcome. A larger group spoke of ending or curtailing exports, enforcing rules regarding "surplus" water, and removing water subsides that allow some exporters to profit from water. Several respondents suggested reducing dependence through urban and agricultural conservation strategies, water recycling, and desalination. One person suggested making the Governor's drought-driven conservation measures permanent.
Protect fish and wildlife
Ten people (9%) gave responses in this category. Not just salmon and striped bass, but also migratory bird populations were mentioned. (No one specifically mentioned smelt.)
Preserve agriculture in and around the Delta
Nine people (8%) spoke of the need to keep agricultural land viable, profitable, and sustainable, with no commercial and residential development in the Primary Zone, and with a slowing of or end to development on farmland surrounding the Delta.
However, one person commented, "What about growth in the Delta? People want to live there, boaters, fishermen, and those who enjoy beauty. Farmers, property owners would love to sell some of their property. Not all farming families want to farm."
And one respondent noted, "Almost 20 on the panel. No farmers. Why? I'm glad you enjoyed your lunch. It was produced by farmers."
Restore the Delta would like to note that two presenters Tom Zuckerman and Dante Nomellini are both Delta farmers. Eight additional Delta farmers were invited to participate in panels; however, they either declined or were not available for the event. In addition, a Delta Advocate Award was presented to Alex Hildebrand for his work on behalf of the Delta farming community.
Provide for recreation and access
Seven people (6%) mentioned access to the Delta for education and recreation, including hiking and biking, as important outcomes. One respondent was very specific, asking for "10 full-service day-use parks with restrooms and boat docks, waste disposal and trash collection facilities, picnic and concession shacks with attendants." However, someone also raised the issue of the impact of recreation on restoring the Delta.
Improve flood control and levees
Six people (5%) called for better funding for and attention to levees to meet current and future challenges. One respondent asked for smaller old concrete riprap on the water side of Delta levees. Another wrote, "Let us straighten out the Corps of Engineers regarding the routine declassification of our levees based on terribly outdated standards set almost 100 years ago on a national basis and without environmental or engineering merit today. "Destroying our economy, communities and farms."
Consider infrastructure
The five responses (4%) in this category ranged from building regional intake facilities to benefit in-Delta users, to building fish ladders on all dams, to building desalination plants or dams outsides the Delta.
Consider some relevant issues external to the Delta
Six people (5%) raised more general concerns, including recognition of the impact of Delta mismanagement on rivers and tributaries in the watershed, such as the American River. One person noted that the Sacramento River now "freeways" instead of winding to the Delta and suggested a return to a more historic flood plain. And respondents commented that we need to look at resiliency to meet future challenges such as climate change and seismicity.
And finally. . .
One person asked us to highlight 2 or 3 actions that everyone at the symposium can do to achieve a single goal.
