Poll finds few know about Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

STOCKTON -- Nearly four out of five Californians do not know what the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is, even though the estuary of 1,000 square miles provides drinking water for cities from San Jose to San Diego.

Asked in a statewide poll to share what, if anything, they know about the delta, 585 of the 750 people surveyed in late January said they hadn't heard about it or didn't know about it.

That's 78 percent.

The delta's obscurity is not new, and it is not limited to the far reaches of California. A survey in 2007 found that nearly half of Stockton residents had only a vague idea — or none at all — that they lived in or near the delta.

The recent statewide survey, however, suggests that Southern California water districts have work to do if they're to educate customers about where their water comes from. It's those customers who might eventually be asked to pay for a peripheral canal or tunnel to bypass the delta.

The lack of public awareness was no surprise, said Rich Atwater, director of the nonprofit Southern California Water Committee, which represents urban areas dependent in part on delta water.

But, he said, just because people don't know what the delta is does not mean they're oblivious to the state's water challenges.

The same poll found 60 percent support for an $11 billion water bond to bolster the state's infrastructure, although bond critics say their polling indicates that the bond is unpopular and should be repealed.

The Southern California Water Committee requested the recent polling data but did not pay for the work, said pollster Adam Probolsky of Newport Beach-based Probolsky Research.