In addition to providing drinking water for people, livestock, and crops, freshwater flows are known to be a "master driver" or "master variable" in shaping the biological processes of freshwater and estuarine ecosystems, including the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary. The negative impacts of reduced drinking water supply are often phrased in financial terms, but the economic benefits of freshwater flows in preserving and restoring the ecosystems and associated services of the Bay-Delta Estuary have not received as much attention.
Economic valuations of natural resources serve to put ecosystem benefits in human, monetary terms, and have become increasingly common in recent decades. While Friends of the San Francisco Estuary acknowledges the bias and limitations of placing human value on these natural resources, we believe that an economic valuation of benefits provided by freshwater flows is necessary to inform policy decisions regarding flows.
Freshwater flows are critical to the Bay and Delta’s ecosystem and human inhabitants: these flows maintain critical habitat, support populations of endangered and threatened fish, bolster commercial fisheries, increase recreation activity, protect in-Delta agriculture, and help avoid desalination costs for urban users. By determining the value of freshwater flows, we hope to call attention to the benefits these flows offer the California economy, despite their absence from traditional markets.
Friends of the San Francisco Estuary has conducted a review of existing economic literature on instream flows, the Delta, the Bay-Delta Estuary, and its tributaries. Our recommendations can be found in the report below.
Economic valuations of natural resources serve to put ecosystem benefits in human, monetary terms, and have become increasingly common in recent decades. While Friends of the San Francisco Estuary acknowledges the bias and limitations of placing human value on these natural resources, we believe that an economic valuation of benefits provided by freshwater flows is necessary to inform policy decisions regarding flows.
Freshwater flows are critical to the Bay and Delta’s ecosystem and human inhabitants: these flows maintain critical habitat, support populations of endangered and threatened fish, bolster commercial fisheries, increase recreation activity, protect in-Delta agriculture, and help avoid desalination costs for urban users. By determining the value of freshwater flows, we hope to call attention to the benefits these flows offer the California economy, despite their absence from traditional markets.
Friends of the San Francisco Estuary has conducted a review of existing economic literature on instream flows, the Delta, the Bay-Delta Estuary, and its tributaries. Our recommendations can be found in the report below.
