Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

Tuesday, May 8, 9:30 a.m. The Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) Board meets again to vote on funding the tunnels. The meeting will be at the SCVWD’s headquarters: 5750 Almaden Expressway in San Jose

They were going to vote Wednesday May 2, but due to a lot of opposition showing up, a large packet of materials they hadn’t had time to review yet (not clear yet what that was), and a concern that they needed to participate in order to have a “seat at the table” to be able to represent Northern California’s interests they decided to delay the vote until they had time to review the packet.

A lot of members have been asking how to send the Santa Clara Valley Water District members comments prior to their meeting Tuesday May 8 at 9:30 a.m. to vote whether to pay their portion of the tunnels.

Comments can be sent via this website link click here. (When I tried that last Wednesday, it didn’t work but it now goes to the right page/form). And/or you can email them (emails listed below).

I recommend if you comment, start with your relationship to Santa Clara Valley, if you have one. (Like you lived their for N years, or still do and have a weekend home on the Delta, or you work there and/or your son/daughter/etc. lives there and comes to visit you on the weekend to play in the Delta, etc.)

Santa Clara Valley Water District Map

We should stress that the tunnel construction project is going to destroy recreation on the Delta, which is a primary recreation site for their Silicon Valley citizens. They don’t seem to understand they are taking away a place where so many of their users go for weekends, because it is so close and wonderful and unique. Ask if they’ve informed their users about this problem.

If you visit the historic sites in the North Delta, complain how this project will destroy them and how people in Silicon Valley enjoy seeing the quaint legacy towns.

From the Wednesday May 2 meeting, it was reported that the Board’s concern with not being part of the project is that they won’t have any say, and by “buying in” they believe they will have a “seat at the table.” Tell them if they vote yes, they need to vote with the caveat that the project will be altered so as to not harm the Delta recreation and sites that their users now enjoy on weekends – and that’s by picking another one of the alternatives in their EIR: The Eastern Alignment (which is a tunnel route away from the Delta waterways) AND move the pumping facility far away from quaint legacy towns. The Eastern Alignment was the route planned for the original Peripheral Canal so there’s no reason the project could not go there. (We all know it is still a really bad, horrible project, but if we get them to go back to the Eastern Route, by the time they go back through the process for new permits, etc., Brown will be long gone. And in the horrible case that they actually start on this project, so many lives won’t be disrupted).

That’s my thought, anyway. I need to study the Eastern Route more, but if they move the pumps away from the legacy towns and build their route east, it doesn’t appear that it will affect any communities or waterways and hence so much better for people, fish, wildlife, and recreation than the through-Delta route. It’s still a really, really bad idea.

Here is the list of board members from their website:

Or to send them all email, Click Here.