Data compiled by Nicole (Nicky) Suard, Esq. Snug Harbor Resorts, LLC

Transcription

1 Data compiled by Nicole (Nicky) Suard, Esq. Snug Harbor Resorts, LLC Purpose: to help other Delta land owners, businesses and residents understand who has been driving the 21st century push to divert all North Delta water, and for what reasons: 1. Metropolitian Water District (MWD): proposed as early as 2004 barriers for Steamboat and Sutter Sloughs barriers in case of earthquake causing levees to fail. Flooded Islands Feasibility studies show some of the computer modeling, but there is no reportedmodeling for barriers on Steamboat or Sutter Sloughs. Go to for more information and go to the barriers and gates series of maps and reports

2 Source: MWD

3 While MWD has been pushing for elimination of the Delta waterways, fishery agencies have been doing studies of how to restore the Delta. The simple fact is that fresh water must flow through the Delta waterways for restoration and MWD and the oil/natural gas companies want both the water and the lands so they can do mineral exploration and leave behind the contaminated aquifer when they are done.

4 2. MWD has been publishing maps in their reports on their website that indicate they prefer the use of the Sacramento Ship Channel as a new water conveyance canal. MWD is closely tied to URS, the consultant for DWR that published the DRMS Phase 1 report that falsified Delta island history for several islands of the North and Central Delta. The big push for sending more water into the Yolo Bypass makes more sense when you consider Liberty Island is a reservoir according to the terminology used in the computer modeling for BDCP. Note that flooded Liberty Island is not recognized in the map below. However, some locals say that Westlands Water District owns the Liberty Island land. Who owns what is not verified but the fact there is a very large lake or resevoir in that area continues to be ignored by some main stream media. Ask why?

5 3. 1 parts chloride per thousand parts of water (1 ppt) has always been the standard used to measure the fresh water levels in the Delta. Review all documentation prior to 1998 and you will see references to many thousands of pages of historical studies of use of 1 ppt. Note the EPA map below. It indicates the standard for EPA measurement of freshwater limits of intrusion into the Delta is 2 ppt or double the historic levels. How would or does this new standard affect your drinking water wells? How does it affect the native riparian forests along the banks of the Sacramento River? DWR and the media makes a big deal about how, in 1934, higher salinity reached all the way to Walnut Grove. Look at the historical facts. The salinity measurement was 1 ppt and the REASON for the encroachment was that there was overpumping from the rivers above Sacramento, not simply from the drought. If there had not been overpumping, the rivers would have still kept the Delta at below 1 ppt below Rio Vista. If interested in the flow and salinity history of the Delta, Contra Costa Water District published a great study that helped to show the purity of the Delta waters on both the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to their confluence, historically. Many of the salinity studies have been archived at and you go to the delta maps link and look for the water quality maps and studies.

6 Note how many gas companies have established new wells or have gas wells sitting idle waiting... You might want to find out about the NEW technology called horizontal fracking invented in The new technology uses huge amounts of fresh water. The Delta has huge amounts of natural gas and geothermal energy resources and the farmers and other land owners have mineral rights if the mineral rights were not reserved by the state when the land was first sold. Also, State Lands Commission has been leasing out the beds of the waterways to energy exploration companies. Steamboat Slough is one of the waterways with lease copies available online. Map to the right is a small section of the very large detailed map from the state, archived at or

7 2005

8

9 go to Barriers update2