Aerial photos of the region to be affected by the Delta water tunnel and intake near Walnut Grove, California, in 2013. (Randall Benton/Fresno Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, Calif. - The plan to strengthen California’s water infrastructure cleared a significant hurdle this week.
The Delta Conveyance Project — a proposed tunnel that would extend 45 miles from the Sacramento River to a reservoir near Livermore —received Biological Opinions from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service. The agencies had been evaluating the project as a threat to endangered species or critical habitats.
"The science is clear: California must quickly complete the Delta Conveyance Project to meet our water needs in future. I thank the federal government for their partnership in moving this project forward," Governor Gavin Newsom said in a press release. "By meeting this important milestone, we are closer than ever to seeing this vital piece of infrastructure completed and benefiting all Californians. Let’s get this built."
The news comes just over a month after the Delta Stewardship Council in April upheld a certification of consistency which demonstrated the project meets key requirements of the Delta Reform Act and the Delta Plan, which protect the Delta ecosystem and California’s water supply.
Newsom’s bid to fast-track Delta tunnel stalls again
In a blow to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitions to replumb the Delta, California lawmakers once again punted on his plan to fast-track a deeply controversial $20 billion tunnel project that would funnel more water to the south.
Water needs
The backstory:
The Delta Conveyance would bypass the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which serves as a critical hub for California’s water supply.
It’s the latest iteration of a decades-old plan to funnel water deliveries from Northern California around, rather than through, the Delta, with the goal of shoring up water supplies for 27 million Californians and around 750,000 acres of agriculture largely in the central and southern parts of the state.
California is expected by 2040 to lose 10% of its water supply due to hotter and drier conditions. The reliability of the State Water Project — which stretches from Oroville to Riverside and serves 29 public water agencies across the South Bay, Central Coast, South Coast, Inland Empire, Kern County, and beyond — could be reduced by as much as 23% as a result. The Delta Conveyance Project is expected to help offset and recover future climate-driven water losses.
Newsom first expressed support for the project in 2019, and it has faced strong opposition since then.
Conservationists, Tribes, Delta cities and counties and the fishing industry have said the project could threaten local water supplies and degrade the environment. Critics have also argued that the years-long construction process could make some towns uninhabitable.
The state’s own analysis of the project warned that a Delta tunnel would put salmon at risk.
The Source: Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom, Prevoius KTVU reporting