delta

In this Audiograph, we go to a place that’s a little more than an hour’s drive from San Francisco, right in the middle of the California Delta — Bethel Island. 

Governor Brown’s plan to build tunnels under the Delta suffered another setback when the Santa Clara Valley Water district decided it would only fund the project if it is scaled back.

Water is the defining feature of the Delta, and recreation on the water is a big part of the economy and culture of this place.

Major California rivers drain into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and over decades of building dams and reservoirs and pumps, it’s become the major hub of California’s water system — a system that may change again if Governor Jerry Brown's controversial plans to build tunnels for water transport go through.

Pretend you’re looking at a map of the Bay Area, then scroll out a bit.  Find Martinez and Benicia, and draw a line east to Stockton.  From there, go north to Sacramento, then back to Martinez.  Look closely at that triangle and you’ll see a puzzle of waterways and islands that make up the California Delta.