San Joaquin River Analysis

The San Joaquin River is the largest river in Central California measuring three hundred sixty-six miles in length. For quite some time this river had to deal with the fact that it did not have any Salmon in it due to certain issues. An idea had uprisen of starting a project in order to resolve these issues, it was called The San Joaquin river Restoration Project. Many people discouraged this project due to the amount of money it would cost in order to construct. Daniel Weintraub’s article “ River Restoration Project Offers a Sprinkling of Hope” was for the construction of the project. This article was publicly published in Sacramento, in The Sacramento Bee Newspaper on April 26,2009. Sacramento is the capital of California ,where owners of …show more content…
“ ‘When we’re done, we’ll have a river that can safely convey the flows necessary to restore Salmon and other native fish to the river’, Monty Schmitt, a Biologist with the Natural Resource Defense Council, who has been working on the project for nine years…” (Weintraub 1) He believes that the restoration of the river, would increase the population of Salmon due to the amount of fresh water being provided. Not only would the increase of fresh water help the Salmon population, it would also assist the growth in population of native fish,which are important to the San Joaquin River environment. “ ‘We hope to get double duty out of that water by taking it the long way around’, said Ron Jacobsma, general manager of the Friant Water Authority. Weinraub also writes, ‘We really need to focus on getting that water back…’” (Weintraub 2) The river is a necessity that impacts those affected directly by the lack of fresh water flow. The direct impact can range from the fish population to the agriculture industry, and greatly impact those that greatly depend on it. Water is a key element that affects all things surrounding the …show more content…
“Much of what used to be a wild, scenic river has been transformed over the years into a series of channels and canals,with water moving this way and that to irrigate some of the most productive cropland in the country… that make Tulare country the No.1 dairy country in the nation.”(Weintraub 1) Tulare would only be able to become the No.1 dairy country in the nation if the restoration of the river occurs. Without the restoration occurring, Tulare would have never even gotten the chance to become No.1 due to the lack of amount of water. “ ‘ We’ve never done anything on this scale’, said Peter Moyle, a UC Davis professor and consultant on the project. ‘You’ve got 150 miles of river where roughly half of it was drying up every year. The lowermost section has essentially been treated as an agricultural drain.” (Weintraub 2). Without the restoration of the river, whatever is left of what we knew as a “river” will cease to exist. If this river continues to dry up, everything around it will also be affected. All nature and animals would be affected by what is caused if the river is not