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California’s ambitious plan to build two giant water tunnels under the West’s largest estuary has been deemed too expensive by some of the water utilities that would have to pay for it. As a result, attention is turning back to a cheaper option: One tunnel instead of two. On October 17, the board of directors of the Santa Clara Valley Water District unanimously rejected the $17 billion twin-tunnel project, known as WaterFix, and instead expressed support for a smaller, single-tunnel alternative. The district serves more than 1 million people in Silicon Valley.

Picture a beach next to a blue lake under the bright California skies, its water twinkling as the sun catches gentle waves, and birds cruising on the thermals above. As you walk towards the lake, you see that the water levels are low, leaving behind cracked and dry brown mud below the white beach. When you reach what looks like sand from afar, your feet make a crunching sound. You realize it’s thousands—no, millions—of bones snapping beneath your sneakers, from fish that were washed ashore, too many for even the birds or wild animals to consume.

The California Department of Water Resources says crews are pouring the last bit of concrete on the bottom sections of the new Lake Oroville main spillway project. Erin Mellon with DWR says that Wednesday is the deadline for the major work to be completed. “The work that will continue past Nov. 1 on the main spillway is going to be focused on site cleanup, sealing of drains, concrete seams and drainage pipes,” Mellon said. Crews are also working on a cutoff wall to limit erosion below the emergency spillway.