ANDREW HERWITZ - [X]PRESS Alex Hildebrand, also known as "The Father of the Delta," believes that the proposed Peripheral Canal will disrupt farm activity in the Delta.

In the South Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, an abundant water supply is central to the farming community. It is the largest estuary on the West Coast and roughly 44 percent of the land serves as an agricultural lifeline.

As a fresh water source for 22 million Californians, the water distribution puts local Delta farmers and Central Valley’s high-producing agricultural industry at odds.

From the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the water runs to the Delta where part of the supply is used for local farming. Water is also pumped to the Central Valley for commercial farming. Because of the conflict between local and commercial farming, the state is creating new strategies to distribute water.

One proposed solution is the Peripheral Canal (PC), which would route fresh Sierra runoff around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and towards Central and Southern California. The reasons for the 43-mile canal are simple: sustaining the ecosystem in the Delta and water reliability in the entire state.

This canal, introduced 20 years ago, was re-introduced in state legislation last month causing policy makers and farmers to re-examine the role of the Delta.

ON THE DELTA

Alex Hildebrand, 93, has long supported sustaining the Delta’s wildlife and agriculture.

“The canal does nothing for the overcommitment of water supply. Even the environmentalists agree that the end result is converting the Delta into an inland salt water bay,” Hildebrand said.

The president of the San Joaquin Water Users Company and a former engineer, Hildebrand said the canal would rob the public of its produce and farmers of their farms.

Hildebrand, known as “Father of the Delta,” has operated his Delta farm for the past 55 years. Though his farm is tiny compared to most Central Valley farms, he couldn’t see himself living differently.

“A farmer has to farm to make a living of some sort. He values most the kind of life we have as farmers,” he said. “I prefer this life, but you can’t just go on preferring this kind of life if you keep on losing money every year. You have to have a viable profit.”

WATER AVAILABILITY/QUALITY

This “overcommitment of water supply” is one of the main reasons for building the PC. The Delta serves 1.1 million acres feet of water to Southern California, according to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The Delta itself uses 2.25 million acre feet of water for civil and agricultural uses.

If implemented, water from the Sierras would run around the Delta and be delivered to southern regions. The runoff would not go into the Delta, or mix with the ocean salt water. Hildebrand said farmers are worried that the PC will increase salinity in the Delta.

“You just can’t grow [anything] … what happens is that the plant has to be able to take up water through its roots … if the salinity gets too high, the plant will be unable to take up the water, so it behaves as if you just stop watering it,” said Hildebrand.

FARMING ECONOMICS

California’s vast economy is the fifth largest in the world, and the number one agricultural powerhouse in the United States.

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Associate Director Ellen Hanak finds that the Delta is often misperceived as an agricultural oasis. “Only about one-fourth is devoted to [high value horticultural crops] and the other three-fourths is devoted to crops like corn, hay, and alfalfa.”

The Delta contributes $2 billion to the state’s $31 billion agricultural industry, reports the California Farm Bureau. The farming ranges from watermelon to grain to asparagus. Most of the crops serve as a source for San Joaquin County dairy farms as well as local and country-wide consumption.

Hanak, co-writer of the most recent PPIC report on the Delta, says that California must look at the numbers and measure what is at stake.

“When we did an analysis of Delta agriculture, [we found that]: one, it’s not such a huge economic center, and two, the changes we’re thinking about wouldn’t lead to a disappearance of Delta agriculture. It would lead to some changes.”

POSSIBLE AFTERMATH

The Peripheral Canal is perhaps the most controversial proposal, but there are also eight others in consideration. Size and location of a canal can only be estimated, but Hanak insists that the government will seek to resolve a multitude of problems.

“Some farms will be going out of business, but those ... are not essential for the food supply or the economy of the state,” said Hanak. She suggested that the government mitigate, or buy out, lands to sustain land and water.

Although she agrees Delta agriculture is a functioning piece of the state’s farming machinery, she finds that California’s production is a larger concern.

But the PC could still pose a negative affect on the future of the Delta.

“I’m almost 94 now,” Hildebrand said. “What we’d do with the land, I don’t even know. We’d probably stay here for the rest of my life and my wife’s life, but my daughters, I don’t know. They’d be displaced people.”