Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta in the context of "Sacramento River"

San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of the San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.

Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water channel approximately in the middle of the bay, which allows access to major ports in Sacramento, Stockton, Benicia, and Martinez; and other smaller ports on the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta.

Suisun Bay (/səˈsuːn/ sə-SOON; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the entrance to the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta. To the west, Suisun Bay is drained by the Carquinez Strait, which connects to San Pablo Bay, a northern extension of San Francisco Bay. Grizzly Bay forms a northern extension of Suisun Bay. Suisun Bay is between Contra Costa County to the south and Solano County to the north.

The bay was named in 1811 after the Suisunes, a Patwin tribe of Wintun people.

Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the 11th-most populous city in California and the 60th-most populous city in the United States. Stockton's population in 2020 was 320,804. It was named an All-America City in 1999, 2004, 2015, and again in 2017 and 2018. The city is located on the San Joaquin River in the northern San Joaquin Valley. It lies at the southeastern corner of a large inland river delta that isolates it from other nearby cities such as Sacramento and those of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Stockton was founded by Charles Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses. The city is named after famed Mexican–American War commodore Robert F. Stockton, and it was the first community in California to have a name not of Spanish or Native American origin.

Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the U.S. state of California, north of Southern California (which includes Los Angeles and San Diego) and south of Northern California (which includes San Francisco and San Jose). It includes the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley (which itself is the southern portion of the Central Valley, beginning at the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta), part of the Central Coast, the central hills of the California Coast Ranges and the foothills and mountain areas of the central Sierra Nevada.

Central California is considered to be west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada. East of the Sierra is Eastern California. The largest cities in the region (over 50,000 population), from most to least populous, are Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Elk Grove, Salinas, Visalia, Clovis, Tracy, Merced, Manteca, Turlock, Tulare, Madera, Lodi, Porterville, Santa Cruz, Hanford, and Delano. Over time, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency and become less seasonal and more year-round, further straining the region's water security.

The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California counties. Although many areas of the Sacramento Valley are rural, it contains several urban areas, including the state capital, Sacramento.

Comparatively water-rich relative to the other segment of the Central Valley to the south, the San Joaquin Valley, there are slight differences in the crops typically grown in the Sacramento Valley. Much wetter winters (averaging between 25–60 inches (640–1,520 mm) of annual precipitation in the nearby foothills) and an extensive system of irrigation canals allows for the economic viability of water-thirsty crops such as rice and rootstock walnuts. Since 2010, statewide droughts in California (combined with unprecedented summer heat) have strained both the Sacramento Valley's and the Sacramento metropolitan region's water security.

The Sacramento perch (Archoplites interruptus) is a species of freshwater sunfish endemic to California, and transplanted to other parts of the western United States. It is the only extant species within the genus Archoplites. It is the only species of freshwater sunfish whose native habitat resides west of the Rocky Mountains, while all the other species are native to the east. Due its small range and the impact of introduced species on it, it is considered Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

They are indigenous to the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, Pajaro, and Salinas River areas but have been widely introduced outside their native range throughout California. They have also been introduced outside of the state, in Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Texas, to revive their populations. While there is no updated analysis of their populations in these states, it is certain that they still exist throughout California. However, there is speculation of viable populations in Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. The Sacramento perch's native habitat is in sluggish, heavily vegetated waters of sloughs and lakes. It can reach a maximum overall length of 73 cm (29 in) and a maximum weight of 1.4 kg (3.1 lb), and it has been reported to live as long as nine years. Its adaptability to different habitats is variable, and it can survive on various food sources, from insects, bottom-dwelling snails, phytoplankton, and small fishes. As young perch, they consume mainly small crustaceans and eventually move on to insect larvae and then smaller fish as adults.

Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel, also called the Baldwin-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel or Stockton Deep Water Channel, is a manmade deepwater water channel that runs from Suisun Bay and the Sacramento River - Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel to the Port of Stockton and the Stockton Channel in California. The Stockton Ship Channel is 41 mi (66 km) long and about 37 ft (11 m) deep, allowing up to Panama Canal size ocean ships access to the Port of Stockton at the City of Stockton. The Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel is part of the vast Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta that has a connection to the Pacific Ocean. Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel is also called the lower San Joaquin River.

State Route 12 (SR 12) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that travels in an east–west direction from SR 116 in Sebastopol in Sonoma County to SR 49 just north of San Andreas in Calaveras County. The route connects the Sonoma and Napa valleys with the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and the Sierra Foothills. It is constructed to freeway standards from the Fulton Road/South Wright Road stoplight in Santa Rosa, to its partial interchange with Farmers Lane (also in Santa Rosa).