Column: Newsom’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta plan makes more sense. But it’s still a ‘water grab’
2 years, 4 months ago

Column: Newsom’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta plan makes more sense. But it’s still a ‘water grab’

LA Times  

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta near the town of Rio Vista. The third attempt could be the charm for repairing California’s main waterworks, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Each tunnel would have been 40 feet wide, embedded through the delta’s heart — pear orchards, a popular scenic boating area and a waterfowl sanctuary where migrating sandhill cranes winter. “That water doesn’t originate in the delta,” says Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. “Delta people don’t trust the state to operate the tunnel well.” But he adds: “Water is so valuable to L.A., I see this eventually getting built.” Not without persistent gubernatorial follow-through.

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History of this topic

California water agency votes to spend $141 million on Delta tunnel project
2 weeks ago

California water agency votes to spend $141 million on Delta tunnel project

LA Times  

The board of California’s largest urban water supplier voted on Tuesday to spend $141.6 million for a large share of the preliminary planning work on the state’s proposed water tunnel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Providing funds for the initial work, Ortega said, will enable the agency “to gather critical information about the project’s benefits and costs that will …

State Water Project supplies could fall up to 23% within 20 years due to climate change
4 months, 3 weeks ago

State Water Project supplies could fall up to 23% within 20 years due to climate change

LA Times  

Climate change threatens to dramatically shrink the amount of water California can deliver over the next 20 years and could reduce supplies available from the State Water Project by up to 23%, according to new projections released Wednesday by Gov. Such a loss in the State Water Project’s water delivery capacity, if not addressed, could lead to major shortages for …

Newsom administration unveils new $20-billion cost estimate for delta water tunnel
7 months, 1 week ago

Newsom administration unveils new $20-billion cost estimate for delta water tunnel

LA Times  

Gavin Newsom’s administration announced that the estimated cost of building a tunnel to transport water beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has risen to $20.1 billion. “Instead of foisting the costs of this boondoggle project onto Californians, the state should invest in sustainable water solutions that promise to restore the delta ecosystem, not destroy it,” Barrigan-Parrilla said. “If we do …

Newsom wants to build a $16-billion water tunnel. Will it destroy California’s delta?
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Newsom wants to build a $16-billion water tunnel. Will it destroy California’s delta?

LA Times  

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. “There are mounting risks with the existing system, and the elements of the State Water Project in the delta don’t have resiliency embedded in them,” Bradner said. The tribe …

Newsom administration advances delta tunnel project despite environmental opposition
1 year ago

Newsom administration advances delta tunnel project despite environmental opposition

LA Times  

In the face of heavy opposition from environmental groups, Gov. Des Jardins and a coalition of environmental and fishing advocates said in recent written comments that the project faces major uncertainties, “including worsening climate change impacts on water supply and sea level rise, coupled with the need to reduce exports in order to increase freshwater flows through the delta.” They …

California Gov. Gavin Newsom advances water tunnel project amid opposition from environmental groups
1 year ago

California Gov. Gavin Newsom advances water tunnel project amid opposition from environmental groups

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A long-sought and disputed project in drought-prone California aimed at capturing more water during heavy rain storms reached a key milestone on Friday when Gov. The Sierra Club said in a statement that the tunnel’s construction and operation would “cause mass environmental destruction for Delta communities and ecosystems.” Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon …

California water tunnel hangs over budget talks as legislators challenge Gov. Newsom’s plan
1 year, 6 months ago

California water tunnel hangs over budget talks as legislators challenge Gov. Newsom’s plan

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. “I think it’s more than the elephant in the room,” said Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat who represents Contra Costa County in Northern California, told the Newsom administration during a public hearing last week. Opponents of Newsom’s plan say it would aid the development of the tunnel in several ways ways, including: Reducing the number …

Report urges Metropolitan Water District to abandon Newsom’s $16-billion delta tunnel plan
1 year, 7 months ago

Report urges Metropolitan Water District to abandon Newsom’s $16-billion delta tunnel plan

LA Times  

A sign opposing a proposed tunnel to ship water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Southern California is displayed near Freeport, south of Sacramento, in 2016. In a report released this week, the California Water Impact Network said the delta tunnel may seem like a viable alternative but has three major flaws: “an exorbitant price tag, environmental restrictions on …

California outlines plan for scaled back giant water tunnel
2 years, 4 months ago

California outlines plan for scaled back giant water tunnel

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new plan to reroute how water moves from wetter Northern California to drier Southern California would ferry some of it through a single, 45-mile underground tunnel, wrapping around the state’s existing water delivery system and dumping it into the main aqueduct that flows south to vast swaths of farmland and millions of people. The proposal released …

California officially shrinks delta water diversion plan from two tunnels to one
2 years, 4 months ago

California officially shrinks delta water diversion plan from two tunnels to one

LA Times  

A sign opposing a proposed tunnel plan to ship water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Southern California is displayed near Freeport, south of Sacramento, in 2016. Gavin Newsom said in 2019 he would downsize the state’s plan for tunneling around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to deliver water more easily to Southern California. “We have a responsibility to …

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