I love the Delta and our scenic waterways.
We’ve never thought it made any sense to put a major construction project through the heart of the Delta, on Delta islands and in small waterways beloved by boaters and for recreation.
Now we’re finding out that the Independent Technical Review (ITR) Committee, a group of engineers advising the DCA (that’s the Delta Conveyance and Design Construction Authority) January 31 report says:
“The consensus among the ITR was that the Central Corridor [aka the “Through-Delta” route] is logistically impractical and the ITR does not recommend this corridor be further studied.” (Page 6 of the linked report gives the details). Just as we’ve been saying.They elaborated:
The shaft locations are located a significant distance from Interstate 5, accessible by only farm roads with hindrances such as narrow weight-restricted bridges and single lanes. This makes supporting large operations, which requires a constant transfer of materials and people in and out, impractical and expensive as well as difficult to price. In addition, addressing safety, including hospital access and tunnel safety duplication, creates a costly layer or redundancy without definitive costs. While it was recognized that extensive roadway, levee, and likely barge improvements could be constructed as part of the project for the Central Corridor, the ITR offered:
- The cost of improvements to provide reliable and safe access and egress at each site would exceed the cost of additional length of tunnel required for the East alignment.
- Levee re-build, barge, and site preparation & stabilization is temporary work, and much of it (e.g. barge facilities) will require removal;
- Labor and construction safety costs, regardless of improvements, are too uncertain to price due to the location and distance from any shaft on the Central Alignment to developed land/communities.
The ITR Committee is actually pushing for a different route even further East than the Single Tunnel’s Eastern Corridor, closer to I-5 for construction transportation and onto more solid ground than Delta Islands. That would be a huge win for the Delta communities and makes sense, but could have cause new, unanalyzed impacts along that route.
Regardless, that doesn’t correct the other issues with the WaterFix that have been carried through into the Single Tunnel plan. We know that the intake locations in the north will destroy legacy communities there. The location has nothing to do with the “best” location for intakes but instead because DWR has an existing water right at these locations and will not have to go through the process of initiating a new water right if it selects these locations. This is not a lawful reason to exclude consideration of other locations. We know that location of the intakes next to legacy communities is not acceptable.
STCDA believes newer, modern technologies like desalination, recycling, and conservation for L.A. Replacing turf landscaping (green lawns) in southern California with drought tolerant landscaping would save more water than is annually diverted from the Delta. That plus investing in ground water table recharge for the Central Valley, not a tunnel, are the right solutions to help those areas of the state reduced reliance on the Delta through improved regional self-reliance which is a top priority for the Newsom administration. Newsom needs to drop the tunnel plan in favor of modern alternatives.
Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA) 