BLOG: 66% of Storm Runoff in California’s Bay-Delta Watershed was Captured in January 2016

Recently, some legislators have been demanding that state and federal agencies – or Congress – overrule the decisions of agency biologists and scientists in order to increase the amount of water pumped out of the Delta, complaining that the state and federal water projects are not capturing most of the water from recent storms. Yet recent analysis by The Bay Institute shows that approximately 66% of the runoff in January 2016 was captured or diverted, with only one third of the unimpaired runoff actually making it through the Bay-Delta estuary. For the period of October 1st to January 31st, 60% of the storm runoff has been diverted or stored. Compare this level of diversions to the prevailing science, which shows that, to maintain a healthy river system, no more than 20% of its flows, on average, should be diverted.