Freshwater Flows: Actual and Unimpaired Flows 1930-2014

Water management operations that capture and divert water in the watershed and Delta have reduced freshwater inflows to the Bay and created chronic man-made drought conditions in the Estuary. On average since the 1940s, the Estuary experienced 2.8 more "very dry" years of annual inflows <15,000 TAF (dark red bars) per decade than it would have based on estimated unimpaired inflows (light red bars).