The Kern County Water Agency voted Thursday to pony up its $32.6 million share of planning and pre-construction costs for the so-called delta tunnel after its member districts gave a somewhat grudging go-ahead.
The sprawling estuary about 70 miles inland from San Francisco feels distinctly out of place — more like the swampy Florida Everglades than arid California. But from that confluence of two great rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, 1,100 miles of webbed waterways and levees send upward of six million acre-feet of freshwater a year to thirstier parts of the state, from farms in the San Joaquin Valley to the Southern California megalopolis. Known as the California Delta, the estuary is among the state’s most important sources of water — and most consistent flash points over environmental protection.
On Tuesday, as Sacramento attempts to advance the Delta Conveyance Project, also known as the Delta Tunnel, Rep. Josh Harder (CA-09) reintroduced legislation to finally kill this disastrous boondoggle once and for all. The Stop the Delta Tunnel Act would prohibit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) from issuing a federal permit necessary for the project to be implemented.
Trans-Delta System, Peripheral Canal, Bay Delta Conservation Plan, California Water Fix, and now, the Delta Conveyance Project – the idea of a canal to route water around the Delta is certainly not new. It was initially thought of as part of the master plan for the State Water Project but wasn’t included in the initial construction due to cost considerations. In the 1980s, plans were begun to construct such a canal, but it was put to a statewide vote, which was soundly defeated due to concerns about its potential impact on the Delta’s ecosystem and native fish populations.
Despite past setbacks and strong opposition, the idea of constructing a bypass around the Delta was never entirely abandoned. Over the years, it has continued to be a topic of intermittent discussion, with geography playing a significant role in the level of opposition. The most vocal opponents are often found in the northern part of the state, particularly within the Delta itself.
California’s history is defined by building great and innovative infrastructure projects that improve our quality of life and set our state up for continued economic prosperity. From the Golden Gate Bridge to interstates 5 and 80, these projects are symbols of how major infrastructure investments can drive incredible economic growth. Though the creation of these projects was seemingly impossible to many at their inception, they quickly became an essential part of our critical infrastructure fabric that sustains our economy and way of life.
We are at a similar crossroads in building reliable water infrastructure to deliver water to two-thirds of Californians through the Delta Conveyance Project. This proposed project has been studied, refined, redesigned and rerouted due to extensive public input and thoughtful improvements by Gov. Newsom’s administration.
A Sacramento County judge on Thursday ruled in favor of several water districts and local governments over California’s planned delta tunnel project that would divert water from Northern California to the south of the state, saying that exploratory work can’t continue until the state completes a necessary certification process.
The decision by Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto is a win for the groups that had argued the state Department of Water Resources hadn’t completed all documentation required by the California Environmental Quality Act and complied with the Delta Plan.
Despite this year’s deep snowpack, record-setting rainstorms and consequently full reservoirs, the 27 water agencies she represents as general manager of the State Water Contractors are getting just 40 percent of their contracted deliveries, as we reported earlier this week.
A recent court ruling may have thrown a wrench in the state’s funding plans for the controversial and expensive Delta Conveyance Project – a tunnel to move Sacramento River water 45 miles beneath the ecologically sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
In the heart of California, at the place where two great rivers converge beneath the Tule fog, lies the linchpin of one of the largest water supply systems in the world.
The controversial Delta Conveyance Project may have bigger problems than legal action over its recently approved environmental impact report. Who’s going to pay the estimated $16 billion price tag?
