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Recommended: An essay on environmental crises

There is an environmental ecological and economical crisis emerging in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. This crisis is caused by several factors of which some are man-made and some are naturally occurring. The factors have the potential to alter the delta and some have altered it already. The alterations affect all stakeholders that rely on the delta as a resource, one being the in-delta agriculture stakeholder. Currently the delta is in a state where if no action is taken to resolve the problems from the modifications made on the delta, the delta will not be a reliable resource for any stakeholder. There are several proposals that aim to resolve an issue in the delta. Each proposal will have different effects on a single stakeholder. It is necessary to analyze the extent of harm the man-made modifications and natural occurrences have had on the delta, and the effects the proposed policy changes have on the farmers within the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta.
Background of the Delta
The Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta is located on the west coast of the United States in the central region of the state of California. The “legal delta” spans across Sacramento, Stockton, Antioch, and Tracy (Lund J. et al., 2007). A delta is made up of many intersecting channels that surround reclaimed land. (Lund J. et al., 2007). Reclaimed land is an area of land surrounding by dikes or levees tha protect from flooding (Lund J. et al., 2007). The inland water is a result of snowmelt in western Sierra Nevada Mountains. The snowmelt travels west through the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and meets Suisun Bay. From Suisun Bay it travels west through San Pablo bay, then to the San Francisco bay, where it finally meets the Pacific Oce...

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...r from plants.
The building of levees to reclaim land had an impact on the environment and ecology of the delta. This impact includes the loss of riparian forests and wetlands. Since 1860, levees have been built and maintained (California Department of Water Resources, 2014). By the 1930’s nearly all of the marshes of the delta had been reclaimed (Mount, 2005). The riparian forests are habitat for many amphibians and plant species. With land lost, there is a greater threat to the survival of amphibian in the delta (Katibah, 1984). Farms that are located on islands, surrounded by levees, are experiencing subsidence. By farming the soil becomes organically rich, and with time carbon gas is emitted from the soil (Deverel, 1996). The subsidence increases the hydraulic force that is placed on the levees, causing them to weaken with time (Lund J. et al., 2010).

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