By Chris Gilbert
The San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary is in critical decline. The State’s Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revive the struggling Delta and the rivers that feed it, including the Tuolumne. Unfortunately, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), which diverts water from the Tuolumne River to San Francisco and other Bay Area communities, is working to undermine the plan.
Salmon and other species reliant on healthy waterways are on the brink of extinction. Use our online form to send a message to local decision-makers. Request that they use their oversight responsibility to urge SFPUC to do what it can do stop the decline of our precious waterways.
During the recent drought, I did my best to conserve water so that more could flow down the Tuolumne River to the Delta — I’m sure you did, too. So you will understand my outrage when I learned that our efforts did not help the river at all. Instead, the water we saved accumulated behind SFPUC reservoirs. At the height of the drought, the SFPUC had enough water in storage to last three years.
Then, last year, all of the water we conserved during the drought had to be “dumped” down the Tuolumne to prevent future flooding. Instead of benefiting fish and wildlife over the five drought years when they needed it most, it was all released in one season of excessive flows. This is just one example of SFPUC’s disregard for the Delta.
The SFPUC needs to do better at protecting the resources that Bay Area water customers and the environment rely on. Use our online form to send a message to local decision makers today. Ask them to do everything in their power to make sure that the SFPUC becomes a better steward of SF Bay Delta and the Tuolumne River.
Chris Gilbert is co-chair of the Sierra Club's San Francisco Bay Chapter Water Committee.
Photo courtesy Andrew Reding via Flickr Creative Commons.