| | | What's more important, giving farmers socialized water, or protecting the water supply of communities along the river?
Sacramento San-Joaquin Delta[ edit]Both the levee system and the delta islands help protects freshwater hydrology and exporting water facilities from saltwater intrusion. This can be accomplished by displacing freshwater outflow and sustaining freshwater gradient within the delta itself. This means that there is an artificial balance between saltwater flowing inland and freshwater flowing seaward. Failure of a levee system would introduce more saltwater into the Delta. This as a result would tip the balance of water-exchanging gradient in favor of saltwater advancement. Several aqueducts and the water supply system would have undesirable affects as saltwater continue to flow inland, overpowering freshwater outflow. Agricultural and domestic use, for example, may experience freshwater deficiency due to overall salinity within the Delta. This explains why the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta becomes the heart of California’s water supply system. However, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta presents major vulnerabilities from both ends because sea level not only rises but freshwater outflow tends to decrease as well due to increased upstream water usage and the effects of climate change. [7] As freshwater outflow decreases in quantity, saltwater moves into the Delta affecting water management programs and climate variability. Temporally, saltwater intrusion less likely occurs in winter and spring season, where most flooding occurs. This occurs due to heavy runoff from the mountains, fending off seawater intrusion. Before human innovation and management strategies, seawater immensely flood the Delta marshes. This means economic downturn because Delta water can be costly in terms of treating the water itself. Above all, saltwater management strategies is crucial for water districts and other water agencies to intercept saltwater intrusion effectively. [7]. This also means that the overall health of the Delta’s levee system and islands is vital to protect and promote standard water quality both for farmers and urban areas. But such movement of saltwater and freshwater is difficult to manage as one big giant washing machine especially whenever a levee breaks or a lower-than-sea level delta island is then completely submerged. [8]
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