BRADFORD ISLAND — Bruce Kitchens gunned the engine on the Victory II ferry and backed off this tiny Delta island’s landing, but the fierce Fisherman’s Cut current quickly pulled the old vessel into a shallow tule bank. After two more tries Thursday afternoon, the ferry finally pulled out and away from the fast-moving water.
Earlier in the week, the ferry wasn’t as fortunate, grounding itself three times in the mud, the last time needing a tugboat to rescue it, Kitchens said.
Ever since the state’s salinity barrier stopped water from flowing through a segment of False River on May 29 — a last-ditch drought effort to keep salty bay water from encroaching on the clean Delta drinking water — the currents have shifted dramatically, endangering boaters and threatening nearby levees, island officials and residents say. Furious landowners on Bradford Island and Webb Tract, which are accessible only by ferry or boat, say the ferry has been damaged by the groundings, while the state has positioned an on-call tugboat to pull it out of trouble.
“I’ve been here 18 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kitchens, the port captain, said. The ferry has carried cars, trucks and farming equipment from Jersey Island’s Jackass Point to Bradford Island and Webb Tract since 1947, eight times each weekday and five times on weekends.
Water that once flowed down the False River and eventually out to the bay now, due to the salinity barrier, funnels through the narrow Fisherman’s Cut. At ebb tides, the current rockets out to the San Joaquin River on the other end. Just how much faster the water is flowing is unclear, but state water officials say a monitoring station is nearly complete and measurements were set to begin Monday.
“DWR is working closely with the Delta Ferry Authority to ensure that ferry operations continue successfully for the duration of the barrier’s emplacement,” according to a Department of Water Resources statement Friday. The agency said it would investigate any claims of ferry damage.
When Bradford Island Reclamation District trustee Robert Davies heard about the ferry issues, he immediately called state water officials.
“I raised holy hell with DWR,” said Davies, who has vacationed on the island for five decades. “That’s a great concern if the ferry can’t get across.”
By last Tuesday, the state’s barrier contractor had tendered a tugboat by the rock dam between Bradford and Jersey Island that will respond to any ferry issues, the state agency said. The barrier measures 120 feet wide at its base and rises 12 feet above the water line.
But once the barrier work is done later this week, the contractor’s tug boat is scheduled to leave. The Department of Water Resources said Monday it is researching options, such as retrofitting the ferry with different propellers to provide additional thrust, upgrading the engines or leasing a more powerful ferry for the time being.The flow will only get stronger, Davies said. One rancher said she has delayed trucking out her cattle because she’s not confident the ferry could handle such a heavy load with the swift waters.
“It doesn’t have enough power. It’s never needed the power until this barrier was put in,” she said.
Directly south of Fisherman’s Cut is Bethel Island and the weak point in its levee system — Horseshoe Bend.
“My concern is, with the increased velocities, it’s like shooting a water cannon at that cut,” said Anthony “Tony” Berzinas, board president of the Bethel Island Municipal Improvement District.
“I’m not talking about water quality, I’m not talking about water supplies, I’m not talking about farming; I’m talking about life and death,” Berzinas said. “If this island gets breached after the reckless installation of the barrier, who’s going to pick up the pieces?”
Berzinas planned to spend this past weekend surveying the island’s levees for damage. The water levels have already risen on the eastern side of the barrier, which will prevent the district from viewing the “toe” or bottom of the levees during summer low tides, he said, and the 2,500 permanent residents and 6,000 seasonal residents are “panicked.”
The Department of Water Resources said it is monitoring nearby levees.
“DWR has no specific concerns about the integrity of levees in the Delta related to the increased currents and is constantly involved in ensuring their viability generally,” the agency said.
The temporary barrier is scheduled to come out in November — which skeptical Delta landowners question — but residents worry about an early wet season exacerbating the problem. Berzinas also expressed concerns about vessel safety, calling the barrier signage insufficient in an area where boaters used to travel full speed.
“If I was a betting man, I know it’s a macabre bet, but I’d make a bet in Vegas that we’ll have a dead boater this summer,” Berzinas said.
The state says its warning signs and warning plan were approved by the Coast Guard, and Gov. Jerry Brown in his May revise budgeted $22 million to remove the rock barrier by mid-November to meet environmental permitting requirements and to avoid winter flood flows.
“Due to extremely low reservoir conditions, the threat in the Delta due to a wet rainy season is low,” the state water agency said.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta, echoed Bethel Island residents’ concerns that an early El Niño season could cause waters to top the island’s levees.
“They treat the Delta like a colony,” Barrigan-Parrilla said. “If something happens out here, I don’t want the state to say it’s because the Delta people didn’t take care of their levees and the Delta is fragile.”
Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.
