Risks and Options to Reduce Risks to Fishery and Water Supply Uses of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta

Assembly Bill (AB) 1200 (Laird, Chapter 573, Statutes of 2005) highlighted the complex Delta water issues, and directed the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to report to the Legislature and Governor on the following:

• Potential impacts of levee failures on water supplies derived from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta due to future subsidence, earthquakes, floods, and effects of climate change
• Options to reduce the impacts of these factors
• Options to restore salmon and other fisheries that use the Delta estuary

The State is currently involved in four major planning efforts to evaluate ecosystem and water supply issues and consider options for improvements:

1. The Delta Risk Management Strategy (DRMS) is evaluating Delta issues primarily from the perspective of the risks from levee failures and ways to reduce those risks
2. The CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP) Conservation Strategy is identifying restoration opportunities within the Delta and Suisun Marsh ecological restoration zones based on existing elevations, soil types, habitats and natural process requirements of pelagic organisms and other native fish species
3. The Delta Vision will develop a durable vision for sustainable management of the Delta with the goal of managing the Delta over the long term to restore and maintain identified functions and values that are determined to be important to the environmental quality of the Delta and the economic and social well being of the people of the state
4. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) is evaluating Delta issues primarily for the goal of obtaining permits for water supply operations through a comprehensive conservation plan for the Delta designed to protect and restore at-risk species.

Since each process has only prepared initial findings at this point in time, this document reports on progress made to define the risks and options to reduce risks for the Delta as requested by the Legislature.