Graduation Year
Spring 2012
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Environment, Economics, and Politics (EEP)
Reader 1
J. Emil Morhardt
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2012 Jessica J. Mao
Abstract
California has one highly-coveted possession: the Bay-Delta, which is the second largest estuary in the United States. Today, tensions are higher than ever as Southern California continues to grow and demand water from the Delta, agriculture suffers from drought and less-than-promised water allocations, and aquatic life diminishes due to environmentally damaging processes like pumping and exporting of water elsewhere. This paper will examine the historic policies that have shaped how the Delta has been managed, their successes and failures, and current plans in discussion for continuing improvement of the Delta. The Bay-Delta Conservation Plan and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act (HR 1837) are the specific current plans presented and analyzed for potential effectiveness. Despite some of the promising suggestions in HR 1837 and the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, the Delta will remain a problem in the 21st century until stakeholders from all perspectives compromise enough to enact a single, clear-cut solution.
Recommended Citation
Mao, Jessica J., "California's War Over the Bay-Delta: Historic Failures and Current Battles" (2012). CMC Senior Theses. 482.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/482
Included in
Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, Water Law Commons
