BAY DELTA CONSERVATION PLANSEPTEMBER 2009

SUISUN BAY

SACRAMENTO

STOCKTON

STATE & FEDERAL PUMPING PLANTS

Getting Oriented – The Delta

BDCP – Overview

• Science-based, long-term conservation plan promoting recovery of fish species and Delta habitat while restoring reliable water supplies

• Follows nationally recognized habitat conservation planning process – Several hundred similar plans developed across country

• Being developed in an open and public process

• Implemented throughout next 50 years

• One of the most ambitious and far-reaching ecosystem restoration efforts ever undertaken

BDCP – Objectives

• Comprehensive ecosystem approach provides best opportunities to recover fisheries and assure water supplies

• Separate water delivery system from Delta freshwater flows; new conveyance facility would bypass Delta

• Restore thousands of acres of habitat

• Restore river flows to more natural patterns

• Address the many other stressors impacting fish populations – invasive species, pesticides, ammonia discharges, etc.

BDCP - Steering Committee • California Bay-Delta Authority• California Natural Resources Agency• California Department of Water Resources• California Department of Fish & Game• State Water Resources Control Board• US Bureau of Reclamation• US Army Corps of Engineers• US Fish & Wildlife Service• National Marine Fisheries Service• California Farm Bureau Federation• Mirant Delta• Contra Costa Water District

• Kern County Water Agency• Metropolitan Water District of So Cal• North Delta Water Agency• San Luis & Delta Mendota Water

Authority• Santa Clara Valley Water District• Westlands Water District• Zone 7 Water Agency• American Rivers• Defenders of Wildlife• Environmental Defense• Natural Heritage Institute• The Bay Institute• The Nature Conservancy

BDCP – 3 Key Components • Restore Habitat

• Address Other Stressors

• Construct New Water Conveyance System

BDCP - Habitat Restoration

BDCP goes beyond bare-bones compliance with individual endangered species laws: it aids the recovery of numerous species at once. Comprehensive habitat restoration effort will include:

•Restoring up to 80,000 acres of tidal marsh, seasonally inundated floodplain and riparian habitat distributed throughout the Delta

•Enhancing 11,500 – 21,000 acres of existing seasonal floodplain habitat in the Yolo Bypass

•Enhancing up to 20 miles of Delta channels to create a more natural riverbank with overhanging shade, instream woody debris and shallow benches

BDCP – Habitat Restoration

Fish grow bigger and faster in restored habitat areas than in the river itself.

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SAN JOAQUIN RIVER

SAN JOAQUIN RIVER

SAN JOAQUIN RIVER

SAN JOAQUIN RIVERSTATE & FEDERAL STATE & FEDERAL PUMPING PLANTSPUMPING PLANTS

STATE & FEDERAL STATE & FEDERAL PUMPING PLANTSPUMPING PLANTS

SACRAMENTO RIVERSACRAMENTO RIVERSACRAMENTO RIVERSACRAMENTO RIVER

STOCKTONSTOCKTONSTOCKTONSTOCKTON

DUAL CONVEYANCE – East Alignment

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STATE & FEDERAL STATE & FEDERAL PUMPING PLANTSPUMPING PLANTS

STATE & FEDERAL STATE & FEDERAL PUMPING PLANTSPUMPING PLANTS

STOCKTONSTOCKTONSTOCKTONSTOCKTON

SAN JOAQUIN RIVER

SAN JOAQUIN RIVER

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DUAL CONVEYANCE – Central Tunnel Alignment

BDCP – Financing• Several financing options being explored – beneficiaries to

share costs

• Public water agencies committed to paying for new conveyance facilities

• Habitat restoration funded by the public

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