Home Delta Delta Leaders Express Ongoing Concern With Governor’s Latest Tunnel Proposal

Delta Leaders Express Ongoing Concern With Governor’s Latest Tunnel Proposal

by ECT

In response to the Brown Administration’s latest draft of the California Water Fix Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement, county supervisors from the Delta Counties Coalition (DCC), composed of the five Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta counties, issued the following comments today:

“We all agree California needs a comprehensive plan to address the state’s ever-growing water needs; however, the ‘California Water Fix’ really doesn’t fix anything as it relates to many other pressing California water issues, such as the need to capture, conserve and preserve our limited water supplies now and into the future,” said Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli.

“The latest tunnel plan not only moves away from the mandated co-equal goals of a stable water supply and enhanced environmental protection, but it still fails to provide one additional drop of water to our parched system,” said San Joaquin County Supervisor Kathy Miller.

“We remain concerned about the potential impacts of the tunnels on local communities in the Delta, including Clarksburg,” said Yolo County Supervisor Oscar Villegas. “A six-week comment period for a project of this magnitude, with significant local traffic, noise, water quality, and other impacts, does not allow affected agencies or residents enough time to review and provide meaningful comments.”

piepho 2014“We agree there is an urgent need to address the problems with California’s water supply and to restore the Bay-Delta ecosystem and are supportive of the comprehensive approach developed by the State in the January 2014 California Water Action Plan. However, this flawed California WaterFix proposal that solely looks at a Delta plumbing fix does nothing to improve the Delta ecosystem or provide a more reliable water supply” said Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho. “The DCC calls on the State to refocus on setting flow requirements and export restrictions necessary to restore and sustain the Bay-Delta ecosystem and to support actions to produce additional local water supplies for the state (wastewater reuse projects, desalination, additional storage), rather than further sacrificing the already fragile Delta.”

“The changes to the revised-BDCP do not make for a stronger, healthier Delta or reflect critical Delta stakeholder input,” said Solano County Supervisor John Vasquez. “A six-week comment period for a project of this magnitude, with divestment of a major habitat conservation component and other modifications, does not allow enough time for affected agencies such as the Delta Counties, to review and provide meaningful comment.”

The DCC has collaborated over the past seven years to advocate for protecting the interests of the Delta and California’s water supply and continue to seek opportunities to work with the State to address these critical issues. To achieve a Delta that has economic and environmental balance, the DCC has repeatedly pursued a Delta plan that genuinely meets the criteria of the 2009 Delta Reform Act.

Such actions include:

  1.      Improving the ability to move water around as needed with water system improvements.
  2.      Increasing storage capacity.
  3.      Reinforcing our levee system.
  4.      Protecting and improving water quality and quantity.
  5.      Local storage, increased conservation plans, water reuse and recycling and desalination.
  6.      Restoring the Delta’s health.

The DCC was formed to better represent the nearly 4 million people throughout the Delta region and works collaboratively to give one voice to the Delta and engage in efforts to achieve three goals: improve the Delta ecosystem, provide a more reliable water supply for the State, and protect and enhance Delta communities.

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