BIE Faculty Roundtable: Governance and the California Delta

Governance and the California Delta
Rick Frank (lead faculty), Holly Doremus, Cymie Payne, Dan Farber

23 million people rely The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the largest US Pacific coast estuary, as a source of water. However, the Delta is an ecosystem in severe crisis that threatens the sustainability of that water supply. Federal courts have ordered reductions in pumping to protect pelagic fish species and the fragile levee system is vulnerable to earthquake and flood events. Climate change effects are likely to exacerbate these challenges. There is growing consensus that the current governance system for the delta is cause of the crisis and an impediment to the solution. This roundtable seeks to address this issue by focusing on promising, but not fully tested, environmental governance initiatives in the European Union, asking whether similar approaches might be successful in the California Delta region.

California Colloquium on Water Events

Links to Other Work on Delta Governance

Delta Vision Committee Implementation Report (January 2009)

Delta Vision Strategic Plan (November 2008)

PPIC Comparing Futures Report (2008)

Blue Ribbon Task Force Delta Vision Report (January 2008)

PPIC Envisioning Futures Report (2007)

Little Hoover Commission Still Imperiled, Still Important Report (2005)