Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

As 2013 wraps to an end, the media appears to be swinging against the tunnels. Here’s a few of this weeks articles.

Several were spawned from a recent presentation at Westlands Water District that presented an update to anticipated cost of the Delta Tunnels: now $67 billion! Some note that the cost revision was not included as part of the 40,000 pages of documents released 2 weeks ago.

• San Francisco Chronicle December 26th: Phil Matier: Cost Of California Water Plan Skyrocketing.
  
  
• San Jose Mercury News December 26th: Delta tunnels plan’s true price tag: As much as $67 billion.
  
  
• KQED December 27th: Coming Face to Face With the Real Cost of the Delta Tunnel Plan.
  
  
• Although not as mainstream a media report, this article reported on, in addition to the $67 billion cost, that the December 13 rally in Sacramento brought 400 protesters! “Fishermen, environmentalists, Tribal leaders, family farmers, Delta residents, Southern California water ratepayers and elected officials from across the political spectrum have united to stop Jerry Brown’s peripheral tunnels”. See Dan Batcher’s article December 26th Bay Delta Conservation Plan total cost could be as high as $67 billion. That’s an impressive turnout!

Tuesday, December 24th, Rep. John Garamendi repeated his plan and words of wisdom about the real solutions for California’s water situation. Garamendi: California needs a comprehensive water plan – not a $25 billion boondoggle. A few key points Rep. Garamendi makes:

• The technology already exists for agriculture to conserve 3 million acre feet of water each year. That would cut the Delta exports in half and take it back to the amount recommended by the SWRCB “Delta Flow” report.
• One million acre feet could be recycled and stored in the underground aquifers in Southern California at a cost of $1.3 billion.
• Conservation, recycling programs and new storage could create approximately 5.7 million acre feet of new water to use each year at a projected cost of $7.8 billion.