MWD General Manager Jeffery Kightlinger called for renewed attention to management of the San Francisco Bay Delta.
From the Opinion Section of the Los Angeles Daily News – Article by MWD General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger
The challenge is in Northern California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.California’s most challenging water problem is approaching a historic solution … an opportunity for critically important and essential improvements to the state’s water system. The key in the coming months is to maintain the fresh momentum that is behind the state and federal planning process.
This watershed, including all the rivers that flow westward from the Sierra Nevada, provides drinking water for 96 percent of the state’s residents. No single water source is as important for the environment and the state economy. But mounting environmental problems threaten the delta and the reliability of water supplies.
The delta is akin to a patient with multiple chronic illnesses, none of which can be ignored. Ninety-five percent of the original wetlands have been erased by 1,100 miles of levees. If key stretches of levees were to fail in an earthquake, salt water could rush in from the San Francisco Bay and turn the delta into an undrinkable source of supply for an extended period of time. Also, 95 percent of all living plants and fishes are non-native and various human activities, from wastewater discharges to water diversions, pose stresses as well.
