Calif. River Tops Endangered List

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published April 7, 2009 at 2:30 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

An environmental group has listed a California river as America's most endangered river. The river is one of the main sources of water for San Diego and millions of Californians. KPBS Environment Repo

An environmental group has listed a California river as America's most endangered river. The river is one of the main sources of water for San Diego and millions of Californians. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has the story.

The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers funnel water through the 1,000 square mile Delta, a web of channels and islands that forms the hub of California's water system.

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Steve Rothert with American Rivers says the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system is on the verge of collapse, threatening the water supply for 25 million people and five million acres of farmland from Sacramento to San Diego.

"The water supply system is dependent on the Delta," Rother says. "And a good portion of the water that San Diego residents receive comes from the Delta."

He says the rivers and their tributaries are also blocked by large dams to produce the majority of California's hydropower.

Rothert says climate change, population growth, water supply demands, and endangered species listings have brought the Delta to the brink.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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