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from a concerned home owner and boater

Disco Bay to be cut off from much of delta by Two Gates

Jan asks lots of questions and unfortunately the answer to most of them is, "No they haven't thought about that!" This project is just another attempted water grab using the delta smelt as a ploy to hold off high salt content water from the Clifton Court pumps while they drain the delta dry. Ed.

by Jan McCleary

August 4, 2009 -- Discovery Bay -- Last weekend I heard about the Two-Gates Project which will install two gates in the Delta, supposedly to help the endangered smelt.  This plan by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in conjunction with the Bureau of Reclamation will begin construction this fall (that is correct, Fall 2009) putting gates across two of the main channels leading from Discovery Bay to the rest of the Delta.  During half of the year, these gates will automatically close certain times of the day and night (based on tide and smelt migration).   If they close during the incoming tide, they would be closed for 6 hours, twice a day (12 hours/day).

My husband and I live in Discovery Bay –  we just built our retirement home (put all our money in it) with plans to stay here forever.  We boat, ski, swim in this water.  Discovery Bay is a community built on the Delta – a large percentage of the homes have waterfront docks as their back yards.  Most who live here have boats and take our boats to various areas of the Delta, Bethel Island, Stockton, Sacramento, and those with larger vessels down to San Francisco or beyond.  Unlike people who jump in their cars on weekends to go on an outing or for a drive, our waterways are our roads that take us to our weekends on the water.  The water quality of Discovery Bay and our ability to navigate it reliably is of high importance.  

But Discovery Bay will be cut off from the rest of the Delta  

No one seems to be talking about the fact that they will cut Discovery Bay off from the rest of the Delta.  Currently we have year-round access to Mildred Island and further north.  On the shortest route from Discovery Bay to Mildred Island, there is one bridge that needs to open for any larger boats to go from Discovery Bay to Mildred, called the Bacon Island Bridge.  The Bacon Island Bridge is not open 24 x 7.  If we miss the bridge hours, (stay out to anchor too late, have any engine trouble), or if the bridge has a maintenance issue and can’t open which happens several times a year, we now can go around through Connection Slough Bridge and down Old River (about an hour longer, but an option).   

And if we’re are traveling in the evening (for example, returning home from San Francisco after dusk), today we can get from the main channel home any hour of the day or night avoiding both the Connection Slough Bridge and Bacon Island Bridge by going from the San Joaquin to Discovery Bay using Old River.  This means we really can no longer access the rest of the Delta reliably.  This affects not only Discovery Bay but all Marinas on this side of Bacon Island Bridge (Orwood, Bullfrog Marina and others).

Once these 2 gates are in position, both Connection Slough AND Old River could be closed.  When these gates automatically close, how can boaters who weekend at Mildred Island get back to Discovery Bay if the Bacon Island Bridge is down or after hours?  They cannot – they will be stranded away from their homes.  It is unimaginable to cut off a community without a redundant way to return at any hour.  But this new gate at Old River may be closed for six hours while the tide comes in.

 
WORSE, are these gates being constructed to allow big boats through?  Are they deep enough, wide enough.  Or can I no longer go boating for fear that I cannot return home if I miss the Bacon Island Bridge hours or if it has maintenance issues?   As far as I can find out, details are not available.

  
24 x 7 dual bridge plan needed

Currently only the railroad tracks cut Discovery Bay off from the rest of the Delta and there are redundant bridges on that track, the primary bridge operates 24 x 7 and a 2nd bridge is on stand-by available to operate 24 x 7 if there are maintenance needs with the first bridge.  Before these gates are installed, there needs to be included with this project a primary 24 x 7 bridge with a backup bridge with 24 x 7 operation to not strand the community of Discovery Bay and other marinas in this area from the areas the boaters now travel.  I cannot see how this project can be moving ahead quickly with no notice to Discovery Bay residents and without considering the effect of stranding this large, boat-oriented community.

Impacts to the Bethel Island area economy

Other concerns I have not seen addressed are about this area’s economy. There is a great deal of interface and activity between Discovery Bay and Bethel Island because they are two key communities on the delta and there is a direct route between the two.  We take our boat there for haul-out yearly in the winter months.  There are bass fish runs between Discovery Bay and Bethel Island, high-speed racing boat activities, “Poker Runs”.  All of this is very important to the economy of Bethel Island and Discovery Bay probably includes about 50% of the participants.  With the gates, activities between the two will not be feasible for many events and many needs.  Marinas, restaurants, professional bass fisherman will all be negatively impacted.  Has there been an analysis of the impact of these gates on the local economy?  What boats will still have access through these areas?

Safety and Damage Concerns

Even more importantly, what is the safety hazard?  On the websites about this project, I see a great deal of information about monitoring the smelt but I cannot find any detailed documents on how these gates will be constructed or what the potential damage to power boats and sailboats is.  What is the dimension of these gates - their depth, width?  What are the warning systems?  If people are traveling in a group, will some make it through and others be caught as the gates close?  What about high speed boats?  What is the potential for injury or death to someone not knowing a gate is closed or closing?  What warning systems and safety requirements are being installed? What about boats or personal watercraft passing through gates as they close?  There has been a great deal of concern over the past few years about the number of personal watercraft and small boat accidents in the Delta.  It seems to me that these gates are potentially very dangerous.  And since the Old River gate is the only non-bridge path for boaters returning from San Francisco or other areas late at night, will these be well enough lit at night with well-lit warning signs?

Fuel Consumption and Lost/Late Night Boaters 

Even if there is a plan for sufficient warning systems, flashing lights, etc., when the gates are closed, think about the fuel consumption cost for all these boaters having to backtrack and meander through the Delta trying to find alternative ways home.  Or just wait until the gates re-open.   There is no way on these winding channels to put warning systems in place far enough ahead of the gate closing to not have many boaters get part way up a channel only to have to stop and try to find an alternative route.  Or if there is no other route, to have to wait hours.  We’ll have lost boaters, teenagers who were trying to get home before dusk having to wait 6 hours to get from one side of the gate to another trying to navigate at night (which many boaters are not equipped to do).  We’ll have lots of boaters wasting gas and out after dark because of being stuck waiting for a gate to open.  Sounds like a nightmare to me.

The Impacts of the Peripheral Canal

There are an additional host of issues concerning the Peripheral Canal.  Obviously we object to the Peripheral Canal since it will, of course, introduce salt water, brackish water, sand sharks into what is currently fresh water in our back yard.  Besides living in Discovery Bay, we own rental property in Oakley (near Bethel Island) on Sandmound Slough.  The water district of Oakley and surrounding areas requires that the well water (which is in short supply) is only used for non-landscaping needs.  Every resident that lives on the Delta in that area is required to install a pump and the Delta water is used to water the lawns and landscaping.  When the canal is built and this water becomes salty, it will ruin everyone’s landscaping.  Not to mention the damage salt water does to water-cooled engines like all of the ski boats, bass fishing boats, etc.  Has anyone evaluated the salt water intrusion issue associated with the Peripheral Canal?  Plus these communities are on wells.  What is the impact to wells if the water becomes salty?  Will the community that lives on the Delta have acceptable drinking water when it is all being diverted to the South?  (Already we all need to use reverse osmosis systems in our homes due to the minerals in the water.  It is borderline now and I don’t know what the impact of brackish water will be to the well water but haven’t seen any reports on that either).   I tie the two subjects together because the information I have received is that the committee that is proposing this Two-Gate system is primarily from Southern California and representing the water interests there, not the environmental interests here.

 
These questions need answering.   So to me, there are a host of very serious, important questions that must be answered before the Two-Gates Project can be allowed to proceed.  Plus even more concern that it is the first step towards the Peripheral Canal project which itself has a host of concerns.
We need questions answered before the committee that is quietly rushing this project begins construction.

Do we know the answers to these questions or if these questions are even being considered?