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<br />DRS:djk 6/20/88 <br /> <br />(#21) <br /> <br />America, home to more than 100 species of fish and 800,000 water- <br /> <br />fowl and shore birds and is a major stop-over on the migratory <br /> <br />Pacific Flyway; and <br /> <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the Delta provides drinking water to two-thirds of <br /> <br /> <br />California's population, representing 40 percent of all drinking <br /> <br /> <br />water consumed statewide; and <br /> <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the 12-county Bay-Delta region is home to more than <br /> <br />seven million Californians and its economy is dependent upon the <br /> <br />quality of the environment and health of this important estuarine <br /> <br /> <br />resource; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the Bay-Delta Estuary is under increasing stress <br /> <br /> <br />due to increased diversions and exports of freshwater out of the <br /> <br /> <br />Delta to may parts of the state, resulting in exports or <br /> <br />diversions estimated at 60 percent of the Bay's historic annual <br /> <br /> <br />inflow and up to 85 percent of its springtime freshwater inflow; <br /> <br />and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, such diversions and exports have caused adverse <br /> <br /> <br />impacts to the Bay-Delta Estuary such as: increased salinity of <br /> <br />Delta drinking water supplies; an 80 percent decline in the <br /> <br /> <br />striped bass population since the 1950s; decreases in salmon <br /> <br />available for sport and commercial fishing; reduction in the <br /> <br /> <br />Bay's circulation capacity causing longer residence time for <br /> <br />pollutants in the Bay; and loss of critical fish and wildlife <br /> <br /> <br />habitat; and <br /> <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the SWRCB has an historic opportunity to address <br /> <br /> <br />these adverse impacts and protect the Estuary's vi tal public <br /> <br />2 <br />