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In an article on January 25^th, The Daily Journal of San Mateo reported that the National Academies of Sciences met to examine whether the federal government should modify or lift the restrictions on pumping water from the Delta, allowing them to be used for local crop irrigation.

The article say’s that the restrictions are in place to protect the Delta’s endangered “tiny smelt” threatened by the extraction process which draws them in and kills them. And prevent the back-flows created which misdirect juvenile salmon to interior areas, where tens of thousands of them may never make it to the sea.

The 15 member science panel met Sunday, in the first of a series of meetings to explore whether there may be better ways to protect and preserve the fish. The panel is expected to proffer a recommendation in March, based on its findings.

Being reviewed are two environmental plans, written last year by federal wildlife agencies, which are intended to protect fish species by regulating how much water can be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

However, the panel appears to neglect, or simply ignore the fact that high levels of treated sewage are being dumped into the Delta and surrounding estuaries, and have been for decades.

Furthermore, the water expected to be used for irrigation will also contain the same toxins that are believed to be adversely affecting the fish populations, which are found by the panel to be still at alarmingly low levels regardless of the years of restrictions on water usage.

Much of the sewage dumped into the bays, estuaries, canals and deltas is highly toxic and full of acidifying compounds such as ammonias, sulfurs, treatment chemicals and heavy metals. Not to mention the alarming levels of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, psychosomatics, anti-depressants, ACE inhibitors, re-uptake inhibitors, antiviral drugs, estrogen and heart medications. Moreover, scientific evidence suggests that even small amounts of these substances may adversely affect all manner of marine habitats and aquatic species.

Recent demands for information under the Public Information Act have revealed that none of the major municipalities discharging directly into the Delta are even testing for presence of pharmaceuticals in their wastewater.

Furthermore, a 2008 investigation by the Associated Press exposed the high levels of pharmaceuticals in over 40 percent of the nation’s municipal water supplies. These chemicals are prevalent due to the fact that the body typically does not fully break down many of the medications people ingest, and are merely processed by the liver and excreted in the urine. Common waste water treatment practices cannot completely remove these pharmaceuticals.

The Sacramento region is far and away the biggest polluter and is permitted to discharge over 181 million gallons of partially treated sewage each day, and this wastewater they are discharging contains high concentrations of ammonia.

On a monthly basis Sacramento alone contributes 123,000 gallons of ammonia to this fetid crisis, and mostly dumps this sewage into the Delta Canal which supplies over 20 million people’s drinking water. Furthermore, the chemicals being released are believed to have a significant impact on local wildlife and endangered species.

In addition to Sacramento and Stockton, there are another dozen municipalities which each day flush over 200 million gallons of treated sewage directly into the heart of the Delta, and these infusions of toxicity have been increasing unchecked over the past 30 years with local development.

The Stockton wastewater plant has been repeatedly cited for illegal discharges of toxic contaminants, and a recent lawsuit filed by environmentalist groups identifies over 1,500 sewage spills in Stockton in the past five years. These spills are of untreated and partially treated sewage and greatly endanger human life and vastly affect wildlife and the static environment they rely upon.

Another 500 million gallons of treated sewage is permitted to discharge everyday by some 300 additional communities upstream of the estuary and its habitat.

Despite the availability of new and more astringent sewage treatment methods, Sacramento and other wastewater treatment plants still have yet to implement the newer and better technologies. This refusal to protect the citizenry from health risks are likely a direct result of the costs that may be incurred and the change in facilitators that must occur across the board in such an environment.

As has happened so often in America, the many businesses and bureaucracies currently enjoying various contractual agreements and government subsidized incorporations within this nation are circumventing the supreme law of this land in an effort to continue operating outside of the people’s best interest.

The United States Constitution expressly prohibits any corporation or entity from engaging in any activity which intends to flout the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of those around them. And only when this law is properly wielded by informed citizens, will it truly begin to discourage such activities, and set this nation aright.

Some of the information in this article was taken from signs read by the author when traveling on vacation to southern California. Where the signs were located cannot be conclusively determined at the moment since the travel itinerary was not recorded. However, all information has been corroborated, checked for merit, and found to be factual. Dane Wilson.