Board approves funds for Delta Tunnel

The board authorized USD 10.8bn for the project to build two tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The vote makes Metropolitan the primary investor in the project, which has a total estimated cost of USD 16.7bn.

Metropolitan’s board took a similar vote in April. However following that action, two organizations sent a notice alleging violations of the Brown Act in connection with that meeting. Metropolitan responded to the notice disagreeing with its legal conclusion and provided documents in response to a related California Public Records Act request. But to ensure there is no question concerning the validity of the board's consideration of, and its vote on, whether to authorize increased funding of California Water Fix, the board voted on the matter again on the 10th.

Metropolitan Board chairman Randy Record said the action was taken in an abundance of caution to ensure full public transparency. “California’s water delivery system is broken. After years of study, planning and environmental review, we finally have the solution. I am thrilled this project continues to move forward,” he said.

The vote more than doubles Metropolitan’s initially planned investment in Water Fix. In October 2017, Metropolitan’s board initially voted to participate in WaterFix and contribute up to 26 percent of its USD 17bn cost, or about USD 4.3bn. But the majority of federal agricultural contractors who also import supplies via the Delta have yet to commit to investing in the project, leaving part of the project’s costs unfunded.

“The board today recognized the environmental and water supply reliability benefits to Metropolitan’s service area of building California Water Fix. Now we will move forward to build the project on time and on budget to provide our region and much of the state with reliable and cost-effective water,” said Metropolitan general manager Jeffrey Kightlinger.

California Water Fix will be paid for by the people and businesses that use the water it helps deliver via the retail water agencies and cities that serve those customers. Metropolitan will be selling or leasing capacity in the tunnels to allow water deliveries, transfers or exchanges for other parties.

About 30 per cent of the water that flows out of taps in Southern California comes from Northern California via the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But the Delta's delivery system is outdated, its ecosystem is in decline, and its 1,100-mile levee system is increasingly vulnerable to earthquakes, flooding, saltwater intrusion, sea level rise and environmental degradation.

“The added challenge of dealing with climate change underscores the need to have more operational flexibility in the Delta,” Record said.

Attempts to help the Delta have led to regulatory restrictions that have reduced water exports from the region while the ecosystem continues to decline. California Water Fix will modernize the state’s water delivery system by building three new water intakes in the northern Delta and two tunnels that will provide high quality water and reduce impacts to fish. It also will contribute to the restoration and protection of up to 15,600 acres of critical Delta habitat as mitigation for ongoing construction and operational impacts.