California WaterFix2018-03-07T14:55:09-08:00

California WaterFix

The California WaterFix, formerly known as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, would build two massive tunnels beneath the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta for an estimated $17 billion and would take 10 to 15 years to complete. The project as originally proposed would build two tunnels to shore up the State Water Project by diverting Southern California-bound water around the fragile San Joaquin Delta.

Currently, California’s largest supply of water is dependent on 50-year-old levees. According to state officials, if a natural disaster occurred it might cause the levees to fail, allowing salt water intrusion which could contaminate the fresh water supply.

The initial plan was to build two 35-mile long tunnels from the beginning of the State Water Project near Tracy to the bank of the Sacramento River. However, in February 2018, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced that WaterFix would be developed in two stages instead.

The first stage will include a single tunnel and two intakes with a capacity of 6,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) while the second phase would add another tunnel and a third intake expanding the capacity to 9,000 cfs.

Approval of WaterFix is dependent on, among other things, local water agencies agreeing to fund the project’s construction and operation. The DWR hasn’t talked enough districts into the plan to cover the entire $17 billion tab, but it believes it has enough money to afford the $10.7 billion cost of just one tunnel right now.

Angelica Obioha, Infrastructure-Info Staff

More critical water storage is finally coming to California. It took nearly 40 years.

McClatchy DC » California officials have been pushing for more natural water storage since the last large-scale facility was built in 1979. Now they’re finally going to get it.

September 13th, 2018|

Senators insist on judicial review of water tunnels project

E&E News » California’s two Democratic senators have committed themselves to opposing a controversial House provision that would block judicial review of the state’s WaterFix tunnel project. While backstage discussions have occurred, opponents of the $17 billion tunnel project recognize the judicial review ban is all but certain to pass the House as part of a fiscal 2019 Interior and EPA appropriations bill.

June 15th, 2018|

California Sued Over Delta Tunnels Project Changes

SCV News » Environmental organizations sued the California agency in charge of managing the massive WaterFix project Friday, saying the state illegally altered the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta management plan to favor the project over ecological restoration.

May 31st, 2018|
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