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Officials Scrambled To Seal Twin Tunnels Deal Out Of Fear Newsom Could Kill It

/in , /by /Voice Of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water officials and members of Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration rushed to seal the deal on a multibillion-dollar plan to build two tunnels to move water south from Northern California partly out of fear that Gavin Newsom could undo the whole plan if he becomes governor, newly released documents show. In fact, the jockeying was so intense, watchdog groups have alleged the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California broke state open meeting laws when it approved the project two months ago, and now Metropolitan is planning to re-vote.

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San Diego Is Getting A Future ‘WaterFix’

/in , /by /The Coast Newsby Adam Bradley

San Diegans are you ready for a WaterFix? Maybe you’d like water that is more reliable and tastes better? It’s on its way, but there are a few more approvals needed before this can happen, according to Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger. The project, called California WaterFix, is expected to modernize the state’s decades-old water delivery system by building three new water intakes in the northern Delta and two tunnels to carry the water under the Delta to the existing aqueduct systems in the southern Delta that delivers water to cities and farms.

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California WaterFix Developments Continue

/in , /by /The Press (Brentwood)by Tony Kukulich

Over the last few weeks, several significant developments related to the California WaterFix project have occurred, not the least of which was the formal creation of the Delta Conveyance and Design Construction Authority (DCA). A joint exercise of powers agreement between the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the DCA gives the the DCA responsibility to staff, design, contract, construct and finance the California WaterFix project.

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OPINION: Opponents Of Delta Tunnels Deserve Their Day In Court

/in , /by /The Sacramento Bee

It’s one thing to streamline environmental reviews for a major project, which happened for the Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento. It’s entirely another to dismiss any environmental lawsuits and prevent others from being filed. That’s what a Southern California congressman is trying to do, to clear the path for the highly contentious $17 billion Delta tunnels project. It’s an outrageous overreach on a slippery legal slope. Congress should reject it.

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A Washington Bomb Set To Go Off In California’s Delta Tunnels Water War

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jacques Leslie

A congressman set off a legislative bomb in California’s water wars last week. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) inserted a rider into an Interior Department appropriations bill that would exempt from all judicial review the intensely contested Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta twin tunnels project. Passage of the rider — it’s scheduled for a House committee vote Tuesday — would mean that the water diversion scheme wouldn’t have to follow federal or state law. The project, known formally as California WaterFix, would bury two 35-mile-long, 40-foot-diameter tunnels beneath the delta.

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OPINION: The ‘Fix’ In WaterFix Is Certainly Appropriate

/in , /by /Oroville Mercury Register

A bit of irony has emerged over Jerry Brown’s name for his twin tunnels idea — California WaterFix — because it sure looks like the fix is on. The plan to put two huge tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to carry north state water south has faltered on its own, and is unlikely to advance if it is put to the kinds of environmental and financial review that it warrants.

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3 Water Districts Funding Delta Tunnel Project Form Oversight Agency

/in , /by /CBS Los Angeles

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and two other water districts that agreed to fund the California Waterfix tunnel project announced today the formation of a public agency that will be charged with its design and construction. The MWD, which serves as a major supplier of water to the Los Angeles region, along with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Zone 7 Water Agency in the Bay Area, formed the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Joint Powers Authority, or DCA, which will hold its first meeting on Thursday.

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WaterWorld Weekly Newscast: Another Water District Commits To California WaterFix Project

/in , /by /WaterWorld (Tulsa, Okla.)

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works introduced water infrastructure legislation last week aimed at increasing water storage, providing flood protection, increasing local stakeholder input, deepening ports, and maintaining the navigability of inland waterways across the country. Additionally, America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 would invest in the maintenance and construction of water and wastewater infrastructure and the development of a strong water utility workforce. The $2.8 billion legislation would also authorize and deauthorize a number of specific water infrastructure projects across the country.

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Massive $17 Billion Delta Water Tunnels Project Moving Forward

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and two other water districts that agreed to fund the California Waterfix tunnel project announced Monday the formation of a  public agency that will be charged with its design and construction. The $17 billion project is designed to divert water from the Sacramento River as it enters the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and carry it to existing federal and state pumping stations in the southern part of the delta through one or two 35-mile tunnels.

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Is WaterFix Another Megaproject Gone Awry?

/in , /by /California Magazine - Cal Alumni Associationby Glen Martin

The 20th century was the century of the megaproject, and as usual, California pointed the way for the nation. Southern California’s freeway system and the State Water Project, both largely completed by the 1970s, were mighty testaments to the conceit that we could build our way out of any problem. That view, of course, has since been tempered by inconvenient realities.

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