On 3 April 2014, CSPA Executive Director Bill Jennings presented a critique of the devastating impacts that implementation of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) will have on the Delta and local tributary rivers. Other Key Note speakers included DWR Deputy Director Paul Hellicker, South Delta Water Agency Manager John Herrick and Kim Delfino of Defenders of Wildlife.
In a wide-ranging presentation, Jennings pointed out that BDCP’s own modeling demonstrates that the project will increase exports, decrease Delta outflow, increase the concentration of pollutants in the estuary and the time those pollutants interact with the environment, eliminate critical Delta smelt and longfin smelt habitat and reduce survival rates of Winter-run, Spring-run and San Joaquin and Sacramento Fall-run salmon. He exposed the myths that BDCP would improve water supply reliability, that North Delta fish screens would be protective of fish and that adaptive management could protect the Delta.