Poor Tides vs Pumps

[Tony Buzolich]

It just came up on Dan's board about the poor tides for the last couple of weeks in the delta. Anyone who has fished the delta for stripers recently knows what I'm talking about.

It appears that when these giant pumps are running to send water to southern California it reverses the natural flow of the delta water resulting in little or poor tidal movement.

With little outgoing tide how can the delta ever flush itself clean. If you only used half the water to flush your toilet, there'd be leftover residue in the bowl. The same thing is happening in the delta when all this water is being diverted to so/cal.

Any wonder why the delta is dying? :(
TONY

[Darian]

Hey Tony,....I saw that discussion, too. Current water flow management doesn't make any sense to me. :? When you consider that little fresh water reaches the delta thru the San Joaquin River (....The lower section is virtually dry most of the year), most or all of the fresh water for pumping and combating salt water intrusion comes from dams/river systems north of there. :( When there is little tidal movement, it would seem to require additional water for the pumps and to push out the salt water. :(

Just one of numerous reasons that water levels in our reservoirs are almost always low in the summer. :( :(