Home » Santa Clarita News » Water » California WaterFix, Plan To Build Delta Tunnels, Gets Environmental OK (VIDEO)

California WaterFix, Plan To Build Delta Tunnels, Gets Environmental OK (VIDEO)

A massive, controversial water infrastructure project aimed at preserving California’s supply in a disaster or a drought received a greenlight from an environmental agency this week.


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California WaterFix, which was a rebrand of the Bay Area Delta Conservation Plan, issued “biological opinions” allowing the project to move forward.

Click here for more information on California WaterFix.

The proposed project includes new water intakes on the Sacramento River near Hood and dual 35-mile-long tunnels to carry water to the existing south Delta pumping plants for the State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP).

“We are poised to take action to better protect our state water supplies and native fisheries,” said California Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird. “After 10 years of study, analysis, dialogue and scientific inquiry, we have come to a shared vision—and feasible approach—for how best to meet the co-equal goals of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring and enhancing the Delta ecosystem.”

The proposal is probably the most ambitious project ever for the State Water Project, which delivers about half of the Santa Clarita Valley’s water at a wholesale rate to the Castaic Lake Water Agency, which is eventually sold to retail customers in Santa Clarita.

Both biological opinions found the construction and operations of WaterFix as proposed would not jeopardize the continued existence of ESA-listed species or destroy or adversely modify critical habitat for those species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) implement the ESA, with NOAA Fisheries primarily responsible for marine species and the Service for land and freshwater species. Under the ESA, other federal agencies must consult with the Service and NOAA when their activities have the potential to impact federally endangered or threatened species.

The Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released in December 2016 include measures to avoid or minimize impacts that could arise from the proposed project. Once the EIR has been certified through completion of the California Environmental Quality Act process, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will be able to consider whether to issue an “incidental take” permit for the construction and operation of WaterFix under the California Endangered Species Act. These biological opinions will also be considered by permitting agencies, including the State Water Resources Control Board in its hearing now underway on a petition by DWR and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to allow for the change in points of diversion to add three new intakes on the Sacramento River as part of WaterFix.

 

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California WaterFix, Plan To Build Delta Tunnels, Gets Environmental OK (VIDEO)

3 comments

  1. More in depth reporting would be valiued. I know there were environmental groups opposed to this project. Expressing their views would show more in depth and comprehensive reporting

  2. Quiet. You’ll jinx it!

    We need water or we’ll be endangered.

  3. Don’t let Trump know or he will cut the funds.
    Now is the time when he is busy with Twitter.

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.