There is a new and exciting conversation underway in the Sacramento Valley about how functional flows can serve multiple beneficial purposes, including water for fish, farms, birds, cities and recreation. Importantly, this is a different conversation than the discourse over the past several decades to continually add additional water to sterile, inhospitable river channels in the Delta. The more modern conversation–spreading the water out and slowing it down throughout the Valley–is showing promise to improve the food-web and habitat necessary to recover salmon and other fish in both the Sacramento Valley and the Delta; while the old discourse has led to fish declines and frustrated water users. This dynamic is captured by videographer Kurt Richter in his recent film “The case for ending unimpaired flows.”
California needs a modern 21st century water management approach that focuses on functional flows tailored for specific beneficial purposes. In California, every drop of water must have a specific purpose. Modern science is revealing that spreading water across the bypasses and the landscape in the Sacramento Valley and Delta (as a surrogate for natural system functions) will likely benefit fish and other species through food production and habitat. Importantly, the functional flow depends upon the special interactions between the water and the landscape. This approach is already underway and can be expanded in the Sacramento Valley.
