![]() Without it, California would need to replace about 3 million acre-feet of high-quality water annually to meet state demand. ![]() State Water Project water is also used to replenish groundwater basins, fill Southern California reservoirs and support recycled water projects.Ĭalifornia depends on the State Water Project. That’s because the consistent delivery of State Water Project water allows public water agencies to blend high-quality water with local sources to meet or exceed drinking water standards, making the most of our state’s limited water resources. The proposed project is a crucial part of the governor’s portfolio approach to water management and will help California water agencies develop their local water supply projects and reduce future reliance on imported supplies. In addition to the increased water security and environmental benefits the Delta Conveyance Project would provide, it would also help maintain California’s $5 trillion economy – the fifth largest in the world – and is particularly important for the approximately 1,500 disadvantaged communities throughout the state that rely on the State Water Project for affordable, clean water. Not only would this help ensure the continued delivery of affordable, clean water to millions of residents throughout the state, it would minimize impacts to threatened and endangered fish species and is compatible with ecosystem restoration projects already underway. The project also includes a state-of-the-art single tunnel underneath the Delta to safely convey water from the new intakes to the existing State Water Project facilities in the south Delta. The Delta Conveyance Project would add new conveyance facilities in the Delta, including two new intakes located farther north, away from sensitive fish habitat and 20 feet above sea level. The State Water Project infrastructure must be improved to be more resilient to climate change and more flexible in its ability to take advantage of big storms by moving water when it’s wet for use when it’s not. As we’ve seen in recent years, the state’s precipitation is increasingly coming in the form of big storms in-between extended dry periods. Two-thirds of California’s water begins its journey as snowmelt from high in the Sierra Nevada, eventually flowing into the Delta where the State Water Project infrastructure conveys the water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland from Silicon Valley down to San Diego.īut the State Water Project’s 1960-era infrastructure is aging and needs to be upgraded to meet the challenges ahead. The need for this project has never been clearer.ĭelta conveyance is the movement of water through the network of waterways in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub of the State Water Project – California’s most critical water delivery infrastructure. ![]() Let’s face it, our climate is changing rapidly and becoming more unpredictable – wildfires are larger and more frequent, the seas are rising, droughts are lasting longer and storms are fiercer. These updates are now more than fourteen years overdue.The Delta Conveyance Project is a necessary investment to secure California’s water future. Rather than finding new ways to take more water from the Delta-in violation of state law and policy-we want the water board to finalize, adopt, and implement new environmental safeguards in an update to the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. And, diverting more water from the Delta violates the Delta Reform Act, which requires the state to “protect, restore, and enhance the Delta ecosystem” while reducing our reliance on the Delta for future water supplies. The Delta Conveyance will accelerate the degradation of the Bay’s fish, wildlife, and water. The overwhelming volume of science tells us that many of the Bay’s unique fish populations are heading towards extinction, and that more water flowing to the Bay must be part of any plan to protect these irreplaceable organisms and the public resources that sustain them.Ĭalifornians are ashamed that our governor is wasting more time and public resources by floating another ridiculous tunnel plan. Governor Newsom's water resource department is proposing a Delta Conveyance Project (Delta Tunnel) to divert more water from the Sacramento River before it reaches San Francisco Bay. California State Water Resources Control Board: ![]()
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