Save the California Delta Alliance (STCDA)

Still a Threat to the Delta – One Tunnel

As of 2019, the two-tunnel plan is dead, but now a one tunnel plan is being pursued.

Two concerns:

1. Once built, even one tunnel will remove fresh water before it can flow through the Delta. Today when the fresh Sacramento water flows through the Delta, it is used by fish, fowl, farmers, community drinking water, boaters and recreation users. Removing the fresh water before it enters the Delta will cause salt intrusion from the ocean and increase the percentage of water from the polluted, salty San Joaquin River.
2. Chapters 4 and 5 of the California WaterFix Final Plan (December 2016) described the CONSTRUCTION DESTRUCTION that would have occurred for 10-15 years of tunnel construction and the reeking, toxic tunnel muck that will be left behind after the project is completed.

   Much of the same destruction is anticipated to occur with a one tunnel project.

Although the map below is somewhat out-of-date, the through-Delta construction plan continues to go directly through scenic waterways and favorite recreational sloughs. Removing access to a significant amount of the Delta boating and recreational waterways will have a huge economic impact to boating communities, marinas and other businesses.

Tunnel Construction Destruction (the Two-Tunnel Plan) – The tunnel construction path is right through the heart of the Delta! It will destroy scenic waterways, favorite boating areas and leave giant, smelly muck ponds behind on farmers’ land and just over a mile from Discovery Bay and boating marinas and communities.

The Delta is more than a “plumbing fixture” to export drinking water to Central and Southern California. The Delta is an important freshwater estuary: important for the ecosystem; important the local farmers and local economy; and important to thousands who enjoy swimming, fishing, boating, and water sports.

Read more in the SFGate Article “Some Thoughts on the Delta Tunnels”.

Tunnel Construction Destruction (the Two-Tunnel Plan)

Planned construction and remaining “muck” ponds

• Construction will occur for 10 years impacting farmers, boaters, and communities.
• Roads and waterways will be moved, blocked and closed.
• Docks as long as football fields will be built up and down the Delta for barges to deliver construction equipment.
• Enormous “muck” ponds – huge reeking toxic waste areas – will be left behind on farmers’ lands and near favorite anchorages (Mildred Island, Horseshoe and Tinsley), near the Legacy town of Walnut Grove and just over a mile east of the populated town of Discovery Bay.
• Farmlands and scenic waterways will be destroyed.