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California delta islands may be lost

sfgate.com — Fewer structures have been more critical to California's development than the 1,100 miles of earthen levees that help funnel water through the 1,300-square-mile confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. But the levees are in trouble, experts say. Rising seas, earthquakes, subsiding land and floods pose dire threats.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 3, 2009

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  • stonebear, on 01/03/2009, -3/+18Like New Orleans, it was never very smart to develop those islands. But, with global warming, it's a lost cause. The cost of keeping even a few of these islands dry throughout this century will be staggering, and, with globalized agriculture, California can no longer afford to subsidize its agriculture as expensively as it has done traditionally. The dinosaur agriculture lobby be damned; it's time for the state to let the agricorps bite the bullet for the rest of us for a change, and implement a timed withdrawal from those islands. Other reforms are also long overdue, such as making agriculture pay something even close to the true cost of water.
  • andreasfunke, on 01/03/2009, -0/+10California..Over All...very different meaning.
  • jbittle, on 01/03/2009, -2/+7I grew up camping on one of those islands. There's a wealth of fora and fauna not found elsewhere in California.
  • Mania33, on 01/03/2009, -0/+4Like what, another Republican presidential ticket?
  • vmwhelan, on 01/03/2009, -0/+4Deutschland, Deutschland, uber alles?
  • Checkerd, on 01/03/2009, -0/+4I am Governor Jerry Brown.
  • cambob76, on 01/03/2009, -0/+2I like your attitude.
  • graemee, on 01/04/2009, -0/+2Dead Kennedys FTW
  • BillE3, on 01/03/2009, -0/+2More media efforts to maintain support for the perepherial canal. As if it is the only solution to get water from the sacramento valley to the tracy pumps. But it is the only solution the politicians and environmentalists want. Too bad, it will cause harm to far more than just the delta. It will hurt everyone living along the sacramento river from Red Bluff south.
  • inactive, on 01/04/2009, -0/+2These are land use issues and just as on the Mississippi, are a direct result of the levees themselves.
  • phrawgh, on 01/04/2009, -0/+2When the levee breaks. we'll have no place to stay.
  • bfowl, on 01/04/2009, -0/+2jello biafra would not approve of you translation.
  • Chompy, on 01/04/2009, -0/+2Not to mention the fact that agriculture in California is taking up about 50% of the available water supply for the entire South West, which is facing a huge water crisis.. so now plans are underway for *billions* of dollars to be spent on new infrastructure to bring in water from hundreds of miles away.
  • ordig, on 01/03/2009, -0/+2Its the suede-denim secret police, They have come for your uncool niece
  • wheezyninja, on 01/03/2009, -4/+5I grew up on one of those Islands, Twitchell Island if you wanted to know. And I still have a ranch out there. This is B.S. While I understand that some people feel that we shouldn't save all of the islands what will happen when all of the run-off filth gets flooded into the Delta. Do the people down in LA want their water to be as dirty as their air? Do the environmentalist just want to kill all of the "Smelt" (the name for a 1/4" long fish that only lives in the Delta). Seriously I wish the people in Sacramento would stop for a second... pull their head out of their ass, and go and talk to the people that live there, who are educated, and actually know how much crap is on the islands.

    Oh yea... Global Warming exist, I Barack out all the time, and I think that all politicians should be in charge of cleaning their own toilets so they can deal with their own *****.
  • BillE3, on 01/05/2009, -0/+1Scotte

    LA does look at Northern California as their own backyard.

    They did it to Owens Valley, they will do it to the Sacramento Valley as well.

    Read "Cadillac Desert" that story tells how they raped Owens Valley. Have you ever been there?
  • scotte, on 01/04/2009, -0/+1Yes, the canal is a BAD idea. It will ruin the area for recreational boating and wildlife - all just so LA can get water from it. Hey, here's an idea - let's let LA get their own water from their own backyard...
  • stardrummer, on 01/04/2009, -1/+2On a side note... that's my school! Go UC Davis!
  • BillE3, on 01/05/2009, -0/+1When Gov. Jerry Brown was involved with the canal issue; his buddy Ron Robbie also understood the potential economic threat to the Sacramento Valley.

    The "Jerry and Ron" plan was to condem and use emminant domaine to sieze a two mile wide swath the length of the Sacramento River from Rio Vista to Redding. They called it the "Great Sacramento River Parkway".

    Is the "governator" going to create a park?
  • TrafficGuy, on 01/05/2009, -0/+1What's up with the SF Chronicle? They can't even get a map up at sfgate.com to show us? Not all of the readers of sfgate.com know where this stuff is!
  • kilroyy, on 01/05/2009, -0/+0The South West is a desert which should not be developed.
  • AnalogAssassin, on 01/03/2009, -1/+1I guess California's islands will get attention faster than Louisiana's wetlands.
  • GumGuts, on 01/03/2009, -1/+1We'll sell them to someone? Anyone? Only 10 billion dollars
    Need to sell fast
    Contact Arnie
  • Panthersong, on 01/04/2009, -1/+1Nature has a way. Man tries hard to get around it, building levees, dams, and what not, but eventually they break, fall down, or crumble. I'm not saying we shouldn't build anything, but to expect that we'll always win out over natural events like earthquakes, floods, and more is to bury our heads in the sand (or water). Sometimes you have to concede and go on. Build higher up!
  • scotte, on 01/04/2009, -1/+1"global warming" has nothing to do with the levy conditions! It's lack of maintenance that's the problem.
  • Garlik, on 01/03/2009, -6/+5Next time, why not get Dane Cook lost?

    And make sure he's never found
  • cubicledrone, on 01/03/2009, -4/+1Yep. We can't fix it either because all we know how to do is make Powerpoints and layoffs. Running out of water is what happens when you fire everyone, underpay everyone else and discourage people from getting an education.

    Oh, and we are well and truly THE dumbest ***** on this planet if we run out of water.
  • jboitnott, on 01/03/2009, -11/+7California uber alles. It's a phrase they keep on using which means something to the effect of: "California - All Over."
  • zjbird, on 01/03/2009, -7/+3Maybe if we pollute a little more, we can get rid of the state all together!
  • inactive, on 01/03/2009, -8/+4BUT RON PAUL SAYS THIS ISN'T HAPPENING AND HE'S RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!!!
  • noen, on 01/03/2009, -7/+2But... but... how can this be!?? Global warming is a hoax, Al Gore is fat!!
  • inactive, on 01/03/2009, -8/+3"But the levees are in trouble, experts say. Rising seas, earthquakes, subsiding land and floods pose dire threats."

    That's nothing, you wait until 2012 then you'll have something to bitch about.

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