Class
Summary:
Overview of major challenges requiring shifts in water policy: Resolving the environmental and economic crisis in the Sac-SJ Delta, Reversing the decline of native aquatic ecosystems, Reducing major flood risks, Protecting the quality of water sources, Enabling CA water management network to respond more effectively to changing conditions. State actions will be needed to institute change, but local institutions will be needed in crafting on-the-ground solutions.
Primary Reading:
- Chapter 4, pages 179-198
Primary Video:
- Phil Isenberg: California's Water Wars (18 min, 2013)
Additional Readings & Videos by Topic
Bay-Delta Conservation
- Steps Toward a Healthier Delta Ecosystem (Video, 5 min, 2013)
- Image: Historical and Modern Delta (Reading, 2011)
- Stress Relief: Prescriptions for a Healthier Delta Ecosystem (Reading, 2013)
- Ten Realities for Managing the Delta (reading, 2013)
- Aquatic Ecosystem Stressors in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Reading, 2012)
Ecosystem Functionality
- Michael Lauffer: A Regulator Perspective on Reconcilliation Ecology (Video, 35 min, 2014)
Flood Risk Management
- Tim Washburn: The New Central Valley Flood Protection Plan and Sacramento Area Levees (Video, 34 min, 2013)
- Image: Understanding Flood Risks Image from Delta Plan (Reading, 2008)
- Lund, J.R., “Flood Management in California,” Water, Vol. 4, pp. 157-169; doi:10.3390/w4010157. (Reading, 2012)
- Video on levee effects on flooding nearby areas (Video, 5 minutes, 2019)
Water Quality Protection
- Image: Nutrients in the Delta (Reading, 2008)
- Image: Salinity in the Delta (Reading, 2008)
Water Supply Management
- You Can't Manage What You Don't Measure (Reading, 2014)
Keywords:
Water management, Aquatic ecosystems, Delta, Reconciliation, Department of Fish and Game, Groundwater basins, Adjudicated basins, Groundwater banking, Water markets, Native species, floodplains