Water district vote deals major blow to California's delta tunnel project

The board of the Westlands Water District on Tuesday dealt a potentially fatal blow to the most ambitious California water project planned in decades.

By a 7-1 vote, the board of the state's largest irrigation district decided not to join the California WaterFix, a $17-billion project that would re-engineer the way Northern California supplies are moved to the San Joaquin Valley and Southland cities.

“This doesn't work for Westlands Water District,” said board member Todd Neves, who led the move against joining the project.

The motion stipulated that the vote was on the project as presently proposed — suggesting that the board might be more receptive to plans that spread its costs to a greater number of south-of-the-delta irrigation districts.

But Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham was pessimistic that federal agencies would come up with a plan that would satisfy his board.

“I don’t know that there are negotiations that would address the concerns that were raised by the directors,” he said after the board vote in the district’s Fresno office.

Westlands was the first district to vote on whether to help pay for the long-planned project, a priority of Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board is scheduled to vote on WaterFix early next month. But Westland’s move is sure to throw a major wrench in project plans.

“Westlands’ decision to not participate in the California WaterFix will make it very difficult for other agencies to participate,” Birmingham said.

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