Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

This is a poignant letter written by the Delta Legacy Communities expressing their outrage that the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority (DCA) continue to push forward with a Delta conveyance based on the cancelled WaterFix project. They rightfully object that the WaterFix was a project that did not use best available science, or comply with the Delta Plan, according to the Delta Stewardship Council’s draft 2018 findings. Yet DWR’s recent Section 404 permit application to the US Army Corps of Engineers is based in substantial part on the withdrawn WaterFix project specifications. This continuation of the previous project is wholly unacceptable to our communities.

They object to the agencies apparent rush to get federal permits.They rightfully point out that the WaterFix was remanded to the DWR because of the fact that it was inconsistent with the Delta Plan – protecting the Delta’s legacy communities, boating, and recreation.

They point out that at the January 22, 2020 SEC meeting, the DCA’s Intake Lead Engineer, Phil Ryan, announced to the SEC members that the DCA had reviewed potential intake locations, and decided that the WaterFix locations were the best possible locations. DCA Executive Director Kathryn Mallon then stated to the SEC that the fish agencies had approved the intake design and locations and the DCA would not be considering suggestions for alternatives. As with the twin tunnels project, Delta stakeholders had no input into this internal decision.

The intakes in the north are on top of the legacy communities. The Delta Protection Commission rightfully pointed out that:

It is not hyperbole to suggest that the CWF [California WaterFix] project presents an existential crisis for the small Delta communities that would be most affected by the protracted, intensive construction period, the permanent infrastructure, and the radical – not evolutionary – effects on the Delta economic drivers of agriculture, recreation, and emerging heritage tourism. DWR has failed to grapple with the reality, demonstrated through evidence in the record, that CWF puts the long-term sustainability of small Delta communities in serious jeopardy

And stated that it was equivalent on causing blight to those communities.

I’m glad to see they are pushing back. The Single Tunnel Project is abysmal. There is no argument to saying otherwise.

Read the entire letter here.