Deltakeeper Projects:
Baykeeper's Work in the Delta

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in ecological turmoil.  Agricultural pesticide runoff, nutrient pollution, toxic discharges from industrial sites, dredging, habitat loss, massive water diversions, and poor management have led to severely degraded water quality.  Yet more than 22 million Californians depend on the Delta for drinking water, and it supplies irrigation to 6.3 million acres of farmland in the Central Valley.  The health of the Delta is crucial for our state’s economy, public health and quality of life. San Francisco Baykeeper works to defend the Delta:

Agriculture Pollution
More than 200 million pounds of pesticide are applied to California farms every year.  In the Central Valley, these chemicals are washed into the waterways of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and can impact rivers and streams of the Delta and Bay.  Agricultural runoff has gone unregulated for more than 20 years.

Big Dairies (Contained Animal Feeding Operations)
Three million cows in the Central Valley create as much polluted waste as a 20 million-person city.  Runoff from these dairies contains raw manure and harmful chemicals, including bovine growth hormones and antibiotics, which severely pollute groundwater, creeks and canals throughout the Central Valley.

Save the Endangered Delta Smelt
Smelt were once one of the most abundant fish in the Delta, but the population declined sharply in the 1980s when their habitat was polluted by agricultural pesticides, invaded by non-native species, and wrecked by massive water pumps delivering water to farms and cities south of the Delta.  In the last several years, the population has shrunk 90%.

Port of Stockton Expansion
As it was originally proposed, the Port’s expansion project would have been an environmental disaster for the already critically impaired Delta.  In August 2007, San Francisco Baykeeper successfully concluded more than three years of work to secure a settlement agreement from the Port of Stockton that it will reduce the environmental impact caused by an expansion of the Port.