Saturday, October 22, 2005
The Associated Press — The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the largest estuary on the West Coast, draining 61,000 square miles, or 42 percent of California's land area. Here's a further look at its size and history, as well as its importance to California's population and ecology:
- Provides water for more than two-thirds of the state's 36 million residents.
- Irrigates more than 4 million acres for agriculture, mostly in the San Joaquin Valley.
- Is home to 750 plant and animal species, including 130 fish species and 380 animal species, mostly birds.
- About 80 percent of California's commercial fishery species live in or migrate through the delta, as do 25 percent of warm water and ocean-going freshwater fish sought by sport fishermen.
- Has shrunk from 787 square miles to 548 miles since 1850 because of sediment flowing downstream from hydraulic mining during the Gold Rush era in the Sierra Nevada and because of development of surrounding land.
- Comprises more than 1,000 miles of levees and 700 miles of water channels, which have turned its tidal marshland into about 70 islands, many used for agriculture. The first levee was built in 1869.
- Some islands' interiors are more than 25 feet below sea level.
- Sea water once reached Stockton and up the Sacramento River to Courtland, south of Sacramento, in dry years. Since Shasta Dam was built in 1943 and Folsom and Oroville dams since then, salinity has been confined to the westernmost sections.
Sources: Water Education Foundation, The Bay Institute, State Department of Water Resources.
http://www.fresnobee.com/state_wire/v-printerfriendly/story/11384588p-12130283c.html
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