INTRODUCTION 



Water for domestic and commercial use, irrigation, and for the 

 production of electrical energy in California is perhaps the most 

 important and vital commodity regulating the growth and well-being of 

 the State. The most efficient use of California's limited supplies of 

 water has been the concern of planning agencies and the citizenry since 

 before 'the turn of the century. Federal and State governmental bodies 

 have authorized extensive studies of the water problems, many of which 

 still are in progress. As a result of certain state investigations, the 

 California Division of Water Resources published a series of bulletins 

 (1929-31) which presented what has been known since then as "The State 

 Water Plan". 



This report consists principally of observational data which 

 have not yet been fully analyzed. Although the analyses are now being 

 carried out, it will be some time before technical reports embodying 

 them will be published. In the meanwhile, there is need for publication 

 of the data for use by administrators, fishery biologists and engineers 

 who are actively engaged in planning, constructing and evaluating fish 

 protective devices. 



For the Central Valley of California, this plan recommended storage 

 of excess Sacramento River water and its ultimate transport to the San 

 Joaquin Valley, where water deficiencies were especially acute (Fig. 1). 

 This Central Valley water development came to be known as the Central 

 Valley Project when Federal assistance was obtained in its construction. 

 Essentially, the project consists of a large (U, 500,000 acre-foot capacity) 

 reservoir above Shasta Dam on Sacramento River about fifteen miles upriver 

 from the city of Redding, California; controlled flow of Sacramento River 

 downstream from the reservoir; the discharge of stored water into the 

 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; the pick-up on the south side of the Delta 

 of a maximum of U,600 second feet by huge pumps; the delivery of that 

 water through the Delta-Mendota Canal extending some 120 miles up the 

 San Joaquin Valley, and its distribution to farms below the Mendota Pool 

 on the San Joaquin River. Provision of this water to the San Joaquin 

 Valley will make possible the use of San Joaquin River water, stored above 

 Friant Dam, in the southern end of that valley where agricultural potentials 

 are high and water quantities are very low. Water will be transported from 

 Friant Dam to farms in the area by two canals: the Madera Canal leading 

 northward a short distance, and the Friant-Kern Canal which will course 

 southward toward Bakersfield, California, to bring water to lands now arid. 



The original plan proposed the transport of water from Sacramento River 

 to the Delta-Mendota Canal lift pumps through a closed channel, a large canal 

 sufficient to transport water for salinity control in the Delta and to fill 

 the requirements of farms dependent on the Delta-Mendota Canal. Excessive 

 construction costs and technical difficulties involved in the closed channel 

 forced a change of plans. Studies were instituted by the U. S. Bureau of 

 Reclamation and the State of California to determine the feasibility of 

 water transport through existing Delta Channels in quantity and quality 

 adequate for project operation. Although certain engineering problems in 

 the Delta are somewhat imperfectly known, it has been decided to draw water 



