California Rolls Out New, Scaled-Down Delta Tunnel Plan For SoCal Water From Sacramento River

CBS San Francisco

July 28, 2022

A new plan to reroute how water moves from wetter Northern California to drier Southern California would ferry some of it through a single, 45-mile (72-kilometer) underground tunnel, wrapping around the state's existing water delivery system and dumping it into the main aqueduct that flows south to vast swaths of farmland and millions of people.

The proposal released Wednesday would build one tunnel to take water from the Sacramento River, the state's largest, to the California Aqueduct for delivery further south. It's scaled back from the two-tunnel plan championed by former Gov. Jerry Brown and the latest iteration of a project that has been talked about and planned in some form, but never constructed, for about half a century.

When Gov. Gavin Newsom took office in 2019, he ordered water officials to scrap the existing plan and start over. With one tunnel, the new proposal moves less water and aims to reduce harm to the environment. But most critics say the new route will still harm endangered species like salmon and people who rely on the water in the north.

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