And that big California earthquake (not if, but when) just about anywhere along the northern San Andreas fault, will trigger the collapse of hundreds of earth levees in the delta area, thereby allowing the agricultural lands they protect to flood, triggering a chain of events that would pull salt water from the Bay area into the delta, and contaminate the drinking water supply for half the population of California. And the ramification of that ? According to University of California Geologist, Jeffery Mount, it is shutting off the water supply for 25 million people for 2-3 years, and triggering the largest mass evacuation of people in US history. HUGE catastrophe.
The delta streams provide 1/2 the drinking water of California, from San Francisco to Los Angeles. They flow into a massive reservoir 89 miles southeast of San Francisco called the Clifton Forebay. According to Doug Thompson of the California Dept.of Water Resources, if it wasn't for this system, California would be "dry down south".
The water is pumped into a 440 mile long series of aqueducts delivering to southern California, its drinking water. This whole fragile system would be pretty secure if it wasn't for one thing > Earthquakes.
A quake that is large and near the delta, would knock out the delta levees, and pull salt/brackish water from San Francisco Bay to the Clifton Forebay (California's water supply). Here's the likely scenario. A 6.7 quake with an epicenter close to the delta occurs. The levee foundations turn to mush creating sinkholes, collapsing the levees. The sunken island farmlands are turned into salty seas, after a few days. The islands flooding is so powerful, it pulls 300 Billion gallons of salt water inland, all the way to Clifton Forebay, which then has to close its gates, to prevent contamination of the reservoir.
California would have to ration the water in the Forebay, but it would run out in about 6 months, and it would take 2-3 years for the delta to return to normal (assuming perfect conditions that whole time, ie. no earthquakes). Bay area experts say there's a 66% chance that a 6.7 earthquake or a large flood will take down the levees some time over the next 30 years. The 1989 (world series) quake (6.9) just missed. It was centered in Boulder Creek , CA, about 120 miles southwest of the delta.
COST to fix ? Authorities estimate it will take $25-40 Million per square mile to quake-proof the delta levees. Money that California does not have. It would have to come from the federal government. So what is California doing about this catastrophe waiting to happen ?
They are giving away Millions$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, as reparations to blacks who never lived a day under slavery or Jim Crow, while funding various welfare programs to a continuous inflow of illegal aliens (soon to become much worse) as California's budget continues to hemmorage.