Firm Proposes Using Islands in Northern Delta as Reservoirs

A Northern California-based land development company announced Thursday it has acquired control over vast acreage in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as part of a profit-making venture the firm says could help solve the state’s water supply problems.

The plan calls for taking several islands in the delta out of agricultural production and converting them into reservoirs where surplus water could be captured during high winter and spring flows. The water would be released back into the delta during low-flow periods of the summer and fall.

The company, Bedford Properties Inc. of Lafayette, said it already has purchased or acquired options to buy delta islands totaling 20,000 acres.

The islands, which are below sea level and protected by a deteriorating levee system, are in the heart of the ecologically sensitive delta, the key collection point for excess northern water that is exported to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California by the California Aqueduct.

No Legislation Expected

The plan surfaced publicly at a time when it appears that the Legislature is so fragmented that no major water development legislation will be enacted this year.

As announced by Bedford spokesman John L. Winther, the privately operated delta facility would sell the water to the state Department of Water Resources or other state water contractors for $125 an acre-foot, a sum he conceded would raise the water rates of Southern Californians.

(An acre-foot is enough to supply the average family of four for a year.)

Winther told a press conference that the plan would boost water supplies by 200,000 to 300,000 acre-feet, while improving water quality and environmental protection for threatened delta fisheries.

Deteriorating levees in the delta also would receive added protection and the flooded islands would provide new waterfowl habitat, he said, noting that the sale of surplus water that now flows to the sea through San Francisco Bay would pay for the estimated $200-million project.

Winther said that during the last two years, Bedford Properties has purchased or bought options on delta islands used mainly for growing vegetables and wheat. However, like farmers elsewhere, delta growers have fallen on tough economic times in recent years.

Winther said preliminary discussions have been held with officials of the state Department of Water Resources and the Metropolitan Water District, which wholesales water throughout Southern California.

“I learned the meaning of no commitment,” Winther said, explaining that neither agency has embraced the Bedford project.

‘Did Not Encourage Him’

Later, a spokesman for MWD, Jay Malinowski, said the district wants details and hard facts before signing on. “The general reaction was that we did not encourage him to run out and buy any islands,” Malinowski said.

Alan Jones of the state Department of Water Resources, which has been quietly going about negotiating potential new facilities in the delta, termed the developer’s program an “interesting concept” and said “we are keeping an open mind on it.”

Likewise, David Schuster of the State Water Contractors Assn., which represents 28 of the 30 State Water Project contractors, said the “concept has a lot of merit” but its costs must be closely examined.

John McClurg, a department supervising engineer, said the concept of turning an agriculturally productive island into a reservoir was touched on in a 1982 investigation of levee maintenance but was not pursued. He indicated that the state government would be reluctant to convert flooded farmland into a reservoir if the owner wanted to reclaim it for farming. And the state, he said, has never been faced with a grower wanting to give up land for a reservoir.

Winther conceded that consumers in Southern California would pay higher rates under his plan. He said southern urban customers “are probably the only ones who can afford to pay this kind of price. They have shown a willingness to get a stable supply of water at a higher price.”

The proposal envisions flooding the islands during the winter, holding the stored water until periods of low flow in the summer and fall months and then releasing it back into the delta.

Options for Use

Once back in the delta, the water could either be pumped into the state aqueduct for export south or allowed to become part of the seaward delta flow that flushes out San Francisco Bay.

The high-quality stored water would help sweeten the often-brackish delta, Winther said. In addition, he said, the releases would help mitigate the adverse impact of state Water Project pumping on salmon and striped bass fisheries.

However, it could take years for Bedford to obtain the numerous state and federal permits it needs. It also will be impossible for the company to obtain approval for such a plan until the state Water Resources Control Board sets new water quality standards for San Francisco Bay and the delta--a process expected to take at least three years.