An innovative solution to California's water crisis
The Delta Wetlands Project is a water supply and habitat restoration project with a unique approach to addressing California's water crisis – a public-private partnership that does not rely on state or federal financing and is consistent with the long-term visions for a sustainable Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta, including the State of California�s co-equal goals of improving water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration. Rather than building a new dam on a river, this environmentally sensitive project will store water on two low-lying islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta during high winter run-off periods and return the water back to the Delta channels during the summer as a new source of water for the region. After almost 20 years of study and planning, the Delta Wetlands Project has proven its technical and environmental merit - it can deliver immediate benefits and be fully operational with 36 months of project approval.
Holland Tract
An environmentally responsible approach
The Delta Wetlands Project is an important part of addressing California's current and future water supply challenges – a unique way to provide both a desperately needed new water supply and new wetland and wildlife habitat for California. The project will transform two low-lying islands into reservoirs to store 215,000 acre-feet of water, and two islands into 9,000 acres of protected wetlands and wildlife habitat. The Reservoir Islands will store available water in "wet" winter months so that it can be put to beneficial use during "dry" summer months or conveyed to groundwater storage for later use in dry years.
An innovative public-private partnership
The Project will be developed and operated as a partnership between the original project proponent Delta Wetlands, a private landowner, and the Semitropic Water Storage District, a public agency. Semitropic brings its extensive experience developing and operating highly successful groundwater banking programs including its Semitropic Groundwater Storage Bank. As Lead Agency, Semitropic is responsible for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance.
