Sanctuary: A Counter-Project for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Abstract

The California Department of Water Resources has invested trillions of dollars in creating a centralized water supply system that has historically made the agricultural economy and Southern California’s urbanization possible. However, this system that exports and conveys waters, through the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, is precarious and riddled with seismic risk, flooding, and subsidence problems. Moreover, it has largely viewed the Delta region as a sacrifice zone, ecologically and socioeconomically. Using the lens of fish, this thesis proposes a public subsistence fishing destination and restorative fish habitat that creates opportunities for local water access and stewardship, while also addressing the precarity and exclusion of local communities that plagues the current system of water conveyance.