Water battles in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have been
fought over a basic question: as the state’s thirsty cities and
farms demand more Delta water, is there enough left for
endangered fish like the Delta smelt and chinook salmon? In a
report released today from the Bay Institute, environmentalists
argue that the damage being done to the Delta ecosystem from
removing water isn't fully being measured. Two-thirds of
Californians get their water from the Delta, the inland complex
of islands and channels where the Sacramento and San Joaquin
rivers come together, carrying runoff from tributaries and the
Sierra Nevada snowpack. Two huge plants in the southern Delta
can pump out tens of thousand of gallons of water per second,
sending most of it to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern
California cities. The water heading to the pumps contains fish.
To prevent the fish from being ground up by the pumps, the water
flows through special screening facilities, the Skinner Fish
Facility and the Tracy Fish Facility.