A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 21, 2008
3. Watersheds –
Press Release:
State of
Landmark Publication on the
The CALFED Science Program has published a book summarizing the significant new
knowledge gleaned from eight years of CALFED science research into water supply and water
quality, ecosystems and levee fragility in the California Delta.
The State of Bay-Delta Science, 2008, is being released on October 21, 2008, on the eve of the
5th Biennial CALFED Science Conference, initiating the gathering of 1,200
Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta scientists, managers and policymakers.
“This is a landmark publication summarizing our current understanding of the Delta by the most
knowledgeable experts on the estuary,” said Cliff Dahm, CALFED Lead Scientist. The effort
was led by Michael Healey, a former CALFED Lead Scientist and Science Advisor to the
Governor’s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force.
“I envision this as a go-to book for managers and policy makers, as well as interested members
of the public that are working to gain a better understanding through science of forces at work in
the Delta,” said Healey.
The definitive reference pulls together in one publication information on a broad array of issues
critical to the sustainable management of water and the Delta. The science outlined in this
volume is expected to play a critical role in the implementation of Delta Vision and the Bay-
Delta Conservation Plan. Some of the key points made in the 174-page book include the
following:
• The Delta of tomorrow will be very different than it is today. Intensifying forces of
change, such as land subsidence, rising sea level, species invasions, earthquakes and
regional population growth, virtually guarantee that current land and water use in the
Delta cannot be sustained. (Chapter 1)
• When levees were first constructed, Delta islands were close to sea level. Farming, water
extraction, burning and wind erosion have lowered the island interiors. Additionally,
recent subsidence modeling suggests that by 2200, the Central Delta will be 30 to 40 feet
below sea level. (Chapter 5)
• With climate change,
and less as snow, the snowpack will be much reduced, and there will be less groundwater
recharge. These changes will challenge the capacity of
system to provide reliable, high-quality water to satisfy human and environmental needs.
(Chapter 6)
Other areas of the book deal with Delta history, science, geophysics, water quality and supply,
aquatic ecosystems, levees, climate change, policy development and some themes that are crosscutting
across areas and issues.
In addition to Healey, other editors of the publication are Michael D. Dettinger, Research
Hydrologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; and Robert B. Norgaard, Professor of
Energy and Resources at the
of the CALFED Science Program were managing editors.
Among the authors are two former CALFED lead scientists, Samuel Luoma and Johnnie Moore;
retired state chief hydrologist, Maurice Roos; present and former CALFED scientists Steven
Culberson, Matt Nobriga, Mark Roberson, Elizabeth Soderstrom and Lisa Holm; USGS
scientists Brian Bergamaschi, Robin Stewart, Cathy Ruhl, David Schoellhamer, Jan Thompson
and Larry Brown; academics Wim Kimmerer and Peter Moyle; and consultants Roy Shlemon,
Susan Anderson and Loren Bottorff.
Copies of the The State of
CALFED Science Conference October 22-24, at the
beginning October 22 on the CALFED website. Hard copies are available by contacting Rhonda
Hoover-Flores at rhondah@calwater.ca.gov.#
http://www.calwater.ca.gov/content/Documents/newsroom/SBDS_News_Release_10-20-08.pdf
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