On August 15, the Delta Counties Coalition, comprised of Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Contra Costa and Yolo counties hosted Congressional staff for a comprehensive Delta tour to gain a firsthand look at the footprint of the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) preferred alternative. The tour included visits to the Freeport Intake Facility, the City of Hood, Greene and Hemly Family Farms, the Cross Channel in Walnut Grove and the Big Break Visitor Center in Oakley—home of the Delta Science Center.
The goal of the tour was to give the staffers an opportunity to actually see the local communities that the proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan tunnel project affects and to gain a better understanding of the real-life consequences and impacts facing these heritage communities. The staffers engaged directly with local area experts who provided educational presentations and visual demonstrations of issues related to BDCP project costs, Delta levee improvements and Delta water quality issues.
Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli said, “We owe it to the people of the Delta and California to get this right, without sacrificing one region of the state for the benefit of another.”
This tour afforded congressional staff the opportunity to see and experience both the economic value of Delta agriculture and the historic relevance of riverside heritage communities.
‘Delta issue experts’ participating in the tour included Dante Nomellini, Central Delta Water Agency; John Herrick, South Delta Water Agency; Dr. Jeff Michael, Director, Business Forecasting Center, University of the Pacific and Dr. Richard Denton, Water Resources Consultant.