The San Joaquin River Restoration Project

Easy navigation and flood control encouraged trade along the river, which boosted the economy and led to an increase in jobs for traders, deckhands, etc. (US History TVA). In addition to providing increased trade opportunities, large amounts of money that would have been spent on the flood damage that were saved by the construction of these dams. A few years into the program, stations were created in the area to monitor flooding. Reports from these stations, in addition to computer calculations, show that the total cost of the flood damage up until 2007 would have been $5.8 billion (TVA River Neighbors). The flooding would have destroyed not only people’s homes, but also their businesses and livelihoods., which would have led to further unemployment.

In Weintraubs article “River Restoration Project Offers a Sprinkling of Hope” he states how the salmon is gone. It affects me emotionaly because what has our world come to. We are running out of food, and water. It makes me feel bad because I have to admit that i really dont take care of water at all. It makes me sad thinking that other people literaly have no water and that because of our actions the salmon is gone.

3.5 million miles of water run throughout the United States; and since the country’s conception, over 80,000 dams have impounded 600,000 miles of these waters [1]. Dams were originally constructed to provide water to towns and establishes energy sources for mills and later hydroelectric plants. Because these dams were constructed decades ago, they’re reaching a critical point of obsoleteness where they cause more harm than good. Dam removal is increasingly popular across the country to address the ecological problems including habitat loss and sedimentation, despite potential for downstream harm, removing dams is more environmentally and economically cost effective than upgrading them. The Marmot, Glines Canyon, and Elwha river dam removal projects each highlight different challenges of dam removal, but overall

Along this journey created by nature, the river interacts with man’s influence to encapsulate the full geographic experience of this region. The succession of dams along the river’s path is a major contribution to how man has decided to mesh with the river. The dams have created reservoirs for water supplies, harnessed energy to provide electric power to the southwestern region, and controlled flooding. Flood control was the main concern at the time between the years 1905 and 1907 when large floods broke through the irrigation gates and destroyed crops in California. The flooding was so large it actually created a 450 square mile sea, named the Salton Sea. As a result of this major disaster, ideas were formulated to

The Central Valley Project (CVP) is a Federal water project set up and run by the US Bureau of Reclamation to provide water for the Central Valley in California. Through twenty dams and reservoirs the CVP facilitates the collection and delivery of water for irrigation, municipal, and industrial use, as well as producing hydropower, providing flood control and recreational facilities on their reservoirs. The CVP provide a good example of how cost allocation works within a vast organization. I will use this organization to describe the method used by the CVP to allocate cost and whether I agree or disagree with their methods. I will also be identifying situations where common costs are allocated. I will explain the impact of allocating

McEwen and Weintraub both state evidence on the information on their articles. They both give support which makes me believe them both. In McEwen’s article “River Plan Too Fishy for my Taste Buds” he states that their is to many problems with legislation and their is no funding, but at the same time everyone els wants to restore the river. In other hand Weintaub in his article “River Restoration Project Offers a Sprinkiling of Hope” he is all for it and he wants the changes.

In the ¨River Restoration Project Offers a Sprinkling of Hope¨, Ron Jacobsma, general manager of the Friant Water Authority, said “We hope to get double duty out of that water by taking it the long way around.¨ As Jacobsma is a general manager of the Friant water Authority, this offers us his experience, his ideas and his thoughts of how we can have hope for the project. President Barack Obama signed the Omnibus Public Lands Bill in March, the agreement turned into federal law when he signed it. The parties had been working on the restoration plan for more than two years laying the groundwork for the physical changes to come. When the president signed it, it made them get the approval which he supported for them to continue the process. The credibility of the author right has now been believable because he provided us with the ethics of President Obama and Jacobsma. The river will not necessarily end up to its full, natural path along its entire length. Too much has changed in the decades since the dams construction. They would use canals along some stretches to carry the water short distances and to ferry the salmon upstream. This is showing us logos with facts and information it offers an explanation on how to solve one of the problems with the plan. A professor named Peter Moyole, from UC Davis also had his opinion on the project. He said “We have never done anything on this scale”, but we were willing to try it and approve of the

Beside these arguments, there is also a more quantitative side to the debate. The ecological detriments of the Glen Canyon Dam have been well-documented. Extensive changes were brought about in the Colorado River ecosystem by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. Most of these alterations negatively affected the functioning of the system and the native aquatic species of the river. The reduced supply and transport of

The future of California is pretty good, for the state is projected to see growth in almost every sector of the economy as well as the population, but there are many concerns that must be addressed first in order to see California’s growth come to fruition. International trade and business is one of California’s largest industries and it’s expected to continue increasing, for many emerging economies are also located off of the Pacific Ocean. Growth in the economy is good, but requires resources that California has a limited supply of. The main resource California always needs is water, since most of the state’s population resides in the southern regions, which are arid and receive minimal precipitation annually. The state is planning on improving efficiency and the aqueduct system to increase the water supply while decrease the environmental effects California’s aqueduct’s have on regions like the San Joaquin River Delta. For many years California has been considered a very liberal and left state, which is due to the fact that the state has the toughest environmental legislation in the country. With such strong legislation ensuring the protection of the environment California has become a model state in the fight against climate change, and must remain vigilant for there are numerous species endemic to the state that are found nowhere else on the planet. Though there are numerous other factors’ affecting California’s future these are some of the most interesting areas to

The San Joaquin River is the backbone of the San Joaquin Valley. The valley is not only the nation's most agricultural area but it is also one of the entire worlds. Millions depend on the crops that come form this luscious valley. The river has gone through many drastic changes over its illustrious lifetime. Once it was a magnificent 350 miles long it is now one of the nation's ten most endangered rivers. The river once flowed with enough water to support steam ships and a salmon migration it now goes completely dry in some areas. The river does not have enough water to support itself any more and must take in water from various other places, such as the Pacific Ocean which

Yet, humans have limited control on natural events, so this only reinforces the importance of managing water wisely. Recently California’s government has begun to focus more on sustaining and restoring the water supply. Dale Kasler (2016) articulates in his article some of the steps they have decided to make to solve this serious issue. The government has made the following investments: “$415 million for watershed restoration and other environmental aid for Lake Tahoe; up to $335 million for two proposed reservoirs in California, including the Sites reservoir north of Sacramento; $880 million for flood-control projects on the American and Sacramento rivers in Sacramento; and $780 million for flood-control projects in West Sacramento” (para. 10). This could be the first step to restoring the water to California. But these

Daniel Weintraub in the article, “River Restoration Project Offers Sprinkling of Hope”, claims that only 12% of the San Joaquin River was recovered for the fish the river’s residents. Weintraub supports his statement by explaining that the project of restoring the San Joaquin River is bringing hope for the river’s residents. The author’s purpose is to show that the project will work so that people can join the project and help restore the San Joaquin River. The author writes in an informative tone for his

In addition, farmland has been destroyed because of the floods and the decrease in delta sediment. The dam has reduced downstream nutrients and sediment flow. And has seriously impacted neighboring river and seacoast ecosystems.

Water is a precious resource. It is the lifeblood of every living thing on Earth. California is in the midst of a water crisis. Combined with a three (plus) year drought and many people moving into the state there is not enough water to support the crops the farmers need to grow. There is also a tiny little fish that is causing a mess in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Delta water pumps were turned off to prevent the extinction of the tiny little fish. Some farmers have to let their fields sit idle for the fall and spring planting season. This is causing a lot of problems in California. The pumps need to be turned back on. The needs of the people should come before that of a fish.

With human development, industrial pollution and other factors all contribute to the deteriorated condition of the river, which makes it difficult to determine the dams’ environmental impact in isolation. CITE That said, the current operations of the dam hamper and potentially prevent environmental improvement of the Colorado. In order to preserve some semblance of the Colorado ecosystem, man must restore the natural processes that created the ecosystem. The real question is how to do that, whether via dam decommission or a less extreme policy change.