The 6,000-foot Delta Cross Channel diverts water from the Sacramento River into a branch of the Mokelumne River, where it follows natural channels for about 50 miles to the Jones Pumping Plant intake channel. Located near the State Water Project’s Harvey O. Banks Delta Pumping Plant, the Jones Pumping Plant uses six large pumps to lift water 197 feet up into the Delta-Mendota Canal.

Constructed near Walnut Grove in 1951, the channel facilitates the transfer of water from the Sacramento River across the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the Central Valley Project export pumps located near Tracy.

The Delta Cross Channel was built to augment the flow of Sacramento River water through the Delta from the Sacramento’s main channel to the CVP export pumps.

In efforts to restore and enhance the winter-run for salmon, the Bureau of Reclamation closes the Delta Cross Channel gates for several months to keep migrating salmon in the river channel.