Delta

About the Delta Section

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, a rich fishery, a boater's paradise and California's most important water supply. Environmental decline and natural disasters threaten to change the Delta forever. Stay on top of the changes here as policymakers debate the Delta's future.

Public hearings are set this month on Delta Plan

By Matt Weiser - Updated: Monday, January 9 2012 - 11:30 am

Five field hearings are planned this month so the public can comment on the draft Delta Plan, a document to guide the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region.

Protected Delta smelt population hits highest level in 10 years

By Matt Weiser - Updated: Monday, December 26 2011 - 10:43 am

A new survey for the struggling Delta smelt brings good news: The iconic fish is at its highest population in a decade.

California Water Commission delays efforts to condemn Delta land - Oct 20
California moves ahead with eminent domain for Delta water project soil testing - Oct 19
Delta gates will close in effort to aid salmon migration - Oct 4
Judge rejects effort to aid Delta salmon - Sep 21
UCLA researchers shake model levee, for peat's sake - Aug 30
Invader invited to defend Delta - Aug 6
Delta council's plan seeks fees on utility systems - Aug 8
Fish and Game releases Delta conservation plan - Aug 7
Delta smelt population up -- wet winter appears to have helped - Jul 21
Delta Conservancy wants input on habitat, history - Jul 17
Park and 50-foot scale replica capture scope, heart of Delta - Jul 2
Locke photo exhibition captures Delta town's Chinese residents in 1970s - May 15
Brown administration looks at smaller water project to bypass Delta - May 11
State parks proposal would build Delta recreation facilities - May 9
National science panel criticizes Bay Delta draft plan as flawed, incomplete - May 8

Coming Next

Interactive Map

Explore our interactive map to learn more about Delta islands, sample reader videos and read past articles about the region.

Special Report

The Delta debate: Resurrecting the canal

By Matt Weiser - Updated: Wednesday, March 10 2010 - 11:06 am

California as we know it today was built largely on this fantasy: That arid cities in the south could indefinitely satisfy the thirst of a growing population by importing water from the north.

Research and Reports

Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force
Final strategic plan (Nov. 2008): recommendations to governor and legislature on restoration, water plumbing
Public Policy Institute of California
Comparing Futures for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (July 2008): recommendations on restoration, water plumbing
Calif. Department of Water Resources
Environmental studies underway on Delta canal options (ordered by Gov. Schwarzenegger Feb. 2008)
Bay-Delta Conservation Plan
Multi-agency effort to prepare habitat conservation plan, including new plumbing (expected late 2010)
CalFed Bay-Delta Science Program
Links to many Delta research topics