If climate change is happening and sea levels are rising then why is the State of California pursuing a Delta solution that protects Los Angeles Basin water interests and those of corporate farms at the expense of large swaths of San Joaquin and Sacramento counties?

Just like the State of California’s horse-blinder approach to high-speed rail that ignores changing realities, the same is true of the myopic tunnel project to bypass the Delta to keep water flowing into SoCal swimming pools in the event of a “disaster”.

The disaster of choice the proponents of the Delta Bypass keep going back to are earthquakes. They justify robbing the Delta of beneficial water to keep its ecological system healthy before it is pumped south to head to faucets accessed to hose down Disneyland pavement by saying a quake could disrupt the LA Basin’s sucking of water from north state watersheds.

So, to take the straw analogy a step further, the water cartel headed by the Metropolitan Water District wants to drill a giant tunnel under the Delta. That way they can divert Sacramento River basin water near Hood north of the Delta into a tunnel and dump it into the California Aqueduct near Tracy.

This effectively robs the Delta ecological system of critical flow thru water. In doing so it would put pressure on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced river watersheds critical to the heath and economy supporting more than 1.5 million Northern San Joaquin Valley to backfill the water the south state takes when it circumvents the Delta.

 It is a real possibility in normal water years and a given in drought cycles that the state will come looking for water to keep fish flows healthy and salt water at bay. Once water headed for LA is physically diverted into a tunnel with the blessing of an environmental study, it further insulates it from being used to assure the Delta ecological system — not to mention agricultures and the sports fishing industry — from being severely damaged.

The tunnel scheme has been rooted in California water infrastructure politics for more than 60 years. A Delta conveyance is seen as the final puzzle of a water plan crafted when California had less than 16 million residents.

More important is it was an idea hatched long before the state and federal government started sounding the climate change alarm bell. There is widespread agreement among the state’s elected and bureaucratic leaders that climate change is accelerating the rise in sea levels.

Given the sea is adjacent to coastal areas and bays almost all of the focus has been on areas such as Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay and San Diego.

But there is more land below sea level now as well as under climate change models in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties as well as the eastern portions of Contra Costa and Solano counties than along the cost.

Climate Central — an organization of “leading scientists and journalists” —  in its own words is dedicated to “conducting scientific research on climate change and informs the public of key findings” — conducted an eye-opening study.

That study showed in 2017 there were 55,000 Stockton residents and 28,500 Sacramento residents that live at elevations that have already been exceeded by historic tides and storms above the high tide line. That makes Stockton and Sacramento the two cities with the largest populations threatened by rising seas.

The area impacted also includes areas such as Discovery Bay, Rio Vista and the pumps at the head of the California Aqueduct. Surging seas would reach the edge of Lathrop, Tracy, and Mountain House.

If this strikes you as a tad wild, it was a relatively shorty time in the earth’s history that the Great Central Valley was a massive inland sea. The lowest point then and now is the delta.

There is a reason why ocean-going ships can make it to shipping ports in Stockton and Sacramento.

The same seawater threatening homes and more also will wipe out Delta agriculture.

It is why one would think the state would rethink its tunnel project that clearly benefits Los Angeles at the expense of San Joaquin County and its neighbors.

Instead of spending massive amounts of money on a tunnel, a more holistic system would be a dike system with the ability to allow the passage of fish and — if feasible — vessels.

Such an approach would serve to protect the Delta ecological system that is key to fish as well as millions upon millions of birds on the Pacific Flyway.

It would take pressure off levees, protect rich farmland and serve as a de facto seawall for the cities of Stockton and Sacramento.

A case can be made is that such a move would be trying to go against the course of nature.

That, however, would be a self-serving hypocritical position for LA water interests to take since they are not simply importing out of basin water but they are doing so by forcing it through a third basin in between theirs and the source of the water.

It is not OK to write off large swaths of interior California if the state won’t do the same for coastal cities.

 A dike system can protect fresh water supplies for LA against earthquakes and rising seas as it would Delta levees. It would protect the current Delta ecological system and do triple duty as a sea wall for Stockton, Sacramento and a number of small Delta towns.

Would it require a lot of out-of-the-box engineering? No more than what it took to give California arguably the most complex and effective water transfer system on the face of the planet.

It is project that crosses all concerns — the ecology, flooding, protecting water supplies, helping threatened fish survive, and keeping rising seas at bay.

Instead of expanding into more and more government services with state surpluses, much of the money should be directed toward assuring California’s future.

Unless, of course, Gov. Gavin Newsom and et al are just giving lip service when they say climate change is the most pressing problem facing California.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com