37°48′03″N 121°37′15″W / 37.80083°N 121.62083°W / 37.80083; -121.62083
8-618: The Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant is located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of the Clifton Court Forebay and 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Tracy, CA . The plant is the first pumping plant for the California Aqueduct and the South Bay Aqueduct . It provides the necessary fluid head (potential energy) for the California Aqueduct to flow for approximately 80 miles (130 km) south past
16-566: Is a reservoir in the San Joaquin River Delta region of eastern Contra Costa County, California , 17 mi (27 km) southwest of Stockton . The estuary region the forebay is located in is only 1m to 3m above mean sea level. The body of water was created in 1969 by inundating a 2,200-acre (890 ha) tract as part of the California State Water Project . It serves as the intake point of
24-517: Is very gradually filling in the central valley with sediments. The region may be rebounding from recent run ins with glaciations that affected North America. A documentary about the decline of the United States' infrastructure, The Crumbling of America , was commissioned by the U.S. A&E network in the late 2000s. The documentary is typically shown on the History television channel in
32-719: The California Aqueduct for transport to Southern California , and feeds the Delta–Mendota Canal (a part of the Central Valley Project ) to recharge San Joaquin Valley river systems. If a large enough earthquake happens near or at the Clifton Court Forebay, the California water system for irrigation and municipal use will be adversely affected. Several earthquakes have nearly shut down
40-624: The O'Neill Forebay and the San Luis Reservoir to the Dos Amigos Pumping Plant . The Banks Pumping Plant initially flows into the Bethany Reservoir . It is from the Bethany Reservoir that the South Bay Aqueduct begins. The John E. Skinner Delta Fish Protective Facility is located 2 miles upstream from the facility and prevents fishes from reaching the pumping plant. Limits on water pumping from
48-523: The Forebay. The 2014 South Napa earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake came very close to shutting down the Forebay intake system. The Clifton Forebay is a wetland system that drained nearby small rivers into the Pacific Ocean. Only in recent times was its freshwater drainage functions turned into a gateway to water storage. The Central Valley region that this forebay interfaces with
56-674: The Sacramento Delta is a politically contentious issue. In dry years, water pumped from the Delta creates a hazard to spring-run salmon . As the Banks Pumping Plant pulls water from the Sacramento River southward across the Delta, it disrupts the normal flow direction of east to west that salmon smolt follow to the Pacific Ocean. Populations of salmon and steelhead trout have reached critically low levels in
64-489: The decades after SWP water withdrawals began. The fish migration issue has become hotly contested in recent years, with rising support for the construction of the Peripheral Canal , which would divert water around the Delta, restoring the natural flow direction. This water supply –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Clifton Court Forebay Clifton Court Forebay
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