Delta–Mendota Canal
The Delta–Mendota Canal was approved for the exchange of water rights in the downstream portion of the San Joaquin River.
The Delta–Mendota Canal is also a key feature to the Delta Division Project which is managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, to minimize salt intrusion from the San Francisco Bay.
The first contracts given by the Bureau of Reclamation were awarded on June 14, 1946, to Hubert H. Everist for station 686+00-1365+00, and workers went on strike against the subcontractor Fred J. Maurer and Son.
[1]: 15 Other contractors were the Columbia Pumping Plant, Mowry Pumping Plant, United Concrete Pipe Corporation, Western Contracting Corporation, A. Teichert & Sons, Inc.[1] General work shifts consisted of 3 daily shifts, twenty-one hours a day, 6 days a week.
During relatively dry years and a high exportation rate, flow of the San Joaquin River has been reversed.
[4] With the use of two 15 foot diameter pipes, six 22,500-horsepower motors, roughly 8,500 Acre-feet (AF) of water from the Delta can be transported southward daily, after being lifted nearly 200 feet.
The Intertie was constructed in the rural agricultural region of the southwestern portion of the San Joaquin Valley in Alameda County, near the city of Tracy, California.
Bill Jones Pumping Plant, The Intertie improves the overall water delivery system, and allows maintenance and emergencies to be addressed more easily.
In order to protect threatened and endangered species, a series of sloughs, channels, and tanks, help capture the fish and safely reintroduce them into the Delta waterways.
Constructed in the 1950s, its objective is to protect aquatic fauna from being injured or killed by the pumps that facilitate water to the south of the state.
[3] Most common fish species safely moved through the series of louvers are American shad, Splittail, White Catfish, Delta smelt, Chinook salmon, and Striped bass.
[8] Land subsidence is prevalent throughout the San Joaquin Valley, but was unrecognized prior to the construction of the canal.
No major negative impacts to the integrity of the structure of the canal have been noted, though minor issues requiring additional maintenance have been report.
The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation evaluated the ability to improve water quality, energy consumption and production, productive fisheries, and flow to the San Joaquin River with the use of recirculation strategies using the Central Valley Project facilities.
