Beyond the Peripheral Canal: Envisioning Futures for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
April 24, 2007, Noon – 1:00 p.m.
MU II, Memorial Union
University of California, Davis
Californians rely on the Delta for the conveyance of drinking water, irrigation water, goods, natural gas and electricity. A breakdown of one or more Delta levees during flooding or an earthquake would potentially threaten services to 23 million residents. It appeared as though the government agencies sharing the burden of managing Delta resources were unable to agree on solutions that were acceptable to all the stakeholders.
This was the situation before the ‘Delta Futures’ report. An afternoon seminar on April 24 will feature UC Davis professor Jay Lund and five co-authors discussing their role as outside experts who collaborated to identify solutions to difficult Delta problems. After publishing their 300-page report in February, funded by the Public Policy Research Institute of California (PPIC), author Richard Howitt stated “We hope that we'll take the political hits and this will allow the (state) agencies -- the people who direct the agencies -- to allow their professionals to look at some of these alternatives." Added Lund: "It's our job at the university to come up with new ideas and new ways to think about things that are hopefully helpful."
Lund and the other authors acknowledge that the use of their report by Delta stakeholders has exceeded their expectations. Author Jeff Mount described the report as “the most significant document for policymakers to come out of the [UC Davis] Watershed Sciences Center over the last eight years.” Since its release, the authors have consulted with state lawmakers on pending legislation. They continue to devote their time to explaining long-term Delta scenarios and the implications of these solutions to water supply, environmental effects and economic costs.
Come hear the authors on April 24, 2007 from noon to 1:00 p.m. in MUII, at the Memorial Union, University of California, Davis.
Additional Information
Report: Envisioning Futures for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Media Contact(s)
Jay R. Lund, Civil and Environmental Engineering, (530) 752-5671, jrlund@ucdavis.edu
Sylvia Wright, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-7704, swright@ucdavis.edu
Left to right: Joe Grindstaff, Alf Brandt, Jeffrey Mount, Jay Lund, Peter Moyle, Richard Howitt, Ellen Hanak and William Fleenor
About the Authors
WILLIAM E. FLEENOR
William E. Fleenor is a professional research engineer in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of California, Davis. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. After a career in engineering sales and marketing, he earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering from UC Davis and a Ph.D. in water resources. He has been involved with various hydrodynamic and water quality research projects involving the Delta and is currently the project manager for two CALFED Bay-Deltafunded water quality modeling efforts.
ELLEN HANAK
Ellen Hanak is a research fellow and director of the Economy Program at the Public Policy Institute of California. Her career has focused on the economics of natural resource management and agricultural development. At PPIC, she has launched a research program on water policy and has published reports and articles on water marketing, water and land use planning, and water conservation. Before joining PPIC in 2001, she held positions at the Center for Cooperation in International Agricultural Development in France, on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and at the World Bank. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland.
RICHARD E. HOWITT
Richard E. Howitt is professor and department chair of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis. He teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in resource economics, economic theory, and operations research. His current research interests include constructing disaggregated economic modeling methods based on maximum entropy estimators, testing the allocation of water resources by market mechanisms, and developing empirical dynamic stochastic methods to analyze changes in investments and institutions. He serves on advisory boards for the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Academy of Sciences.
JAY R. LUND
Jay R. Lund is a professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of California, Davis. He specializes in the management of water and environmental systems. His activities have included system optimization studies for California, the Columbia River, the Missouri River, and several other systems—as well as studies of climate change adaptation, water marketing, water conservation, water utility planning, and reservoir operations. He was on the Advisory Committee for the 1998 and 2005 California Water Plan Updates, is a former editor of the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, and has authored or co-authored over 200 publications.
JEFFREY F. MOUNT
Jeffrey F. Mount is a professor in the Geology Department at the University of California, Davis, where he has worked since 1980. His research and teaching interests include fluvial geomorphology, conservation and restoration of large river systems, flood plain management, and flood policy. He holds the Roy Shlemon Chair in Applied Geosciences at UC Davis, is the director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, and chairs the CALFED Independent Science Board. He is author of California Rivers and Streams: The Conflict between Fluvial Process and Land Use (UC Press, 1995).
PETER B. MOYLE
Peter B. Moyle has been studying the ecology and conservation of freshwater and estuarine fish in California since 1969 and has focused on the San Francisco Estuary since 1976. He was head of the Delta Native Fishes Recovery Team and a member of the Science Board for the CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program. He has authored or coauthored over 160 scientific papers and five books, including Inland Fishes of California (UC Press, 2002). He is a professor of fish biology in the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at the University of California, Davis, and is associate director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.