The State Water Resources Control Board’s Administrative Hearings Office is conducting a public hearing regarding the Delta Conveyance Project. The hearing focuses on water right change petitions submitted by the Department of Water Resources that seek to amend the State Water Project’s water rights permit by adding two new points of diversion and rediversion.
The purpose of the hearing is to gather evidence for the State Water Board to evaluate whether to approve the petitions and, if approved, to determine the specific terms and conditions to include in the revised water rights permits. Approval of these petitions would grant the Department of Water Resources the authority to divert water from the Sacramento River in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and transport it via a tunnel to existing water distribution infrastructure in the southern Delta.
The hearing has been underway since February. So far, DWR has presented its case-in-chief, including testimony from biological and modeling experts. The hearing will resume on August 12 with with any remaining policy statements and then continues with remaining parties’ cases-in-chief.
Click here for more coverage of the change in point of diversion hearing, and check out the new Delta Conveyance Project news page at Maven’s Notebook.
The California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) and Friends of the River have submitted their written testimony to the State Water Board. Their press releases are below.
C-WIN:Project is Overvalued, Under-Analyzed, and a Massive Blow to Ratepayers and the Environment
Friends of the River: Massive Risks, Missing Analysis, and No Real Solutions for California’s Water Future
On Friday, July 11, Friends of the River submitted expert testimony in opposition to the petition from the California Department of Water Resources to permit the construction and operation of the proposed Delta Conveyance Project (Delta Tunnel). The testimony lays out a clear case that the project would cause serious harm to California’s rivers, fisheries, and communities while failing to provide the long-term water supply benefits claimed by proponents.
“This isn’t just about the tunnel itself, concerning as that is. It’s also about reviving an old playbook — a vision that stretches back more than a century — of taking vast quantities of water from Northern California rivers to feed so-called ‘areas of deficiency’ in the south, leaving our rivers, and the fisheries and ecosystems they support, at risk while ignoring water supply alternatives that improve local self-reliance,” said Ron Stork, Senior Policy Analyst at Friends of the River. “We’ve seen this story before.”
Friends of the River’s expert testimony highlights:
- How the project sets the stage for new upstream dams and diversions: As Ron Stork’s testimony emphasizes, the Delta Tunnel is not an isolated facility — the additional capacity to export water from the Delta would catalyze further exploitation of Northern California rivers by incentivizing expanded storage and increased water transfers, repeating past patterns of environmental damage without meaningful safeguards.
- How local water supply alternatives can better meet water supply needs: As expert Heather Cooley of the Pacific Institute explains, Southern California already has significant opportunities to meet water needs through conservation, water reuse, and stormwater capture — alternatives cheaper, faster, and less damaging than a tunnel whose price tag is $20 billion and whose actual cost will probably be three times as much.
- What the long-term consequences are for public trust resources: As environmental scientist Christina Swanson testifies, the project underestimates the effects of climate change and overestimates the effectiveness of the giant fish screens that the tunnel relies on to prevent massive fish kills and impacts to migration, ensuring that impacts to Delta ecosystems and California’s rivers will be far worse than expected, at a time when those ecosystems are already in crisis.
- How the project threatens Northern California’s river economies: As Charles Center’s testimony underscores, the Delta Tunnel would fuel new upstream dams and water transfers, degrading rivers and harming recreation-based communities across the upper watersheds.
“The Delta Tunnel won’t solve California’s water challenges — it will just make new ones,” said Gary Bobker, Program Director for Friends of the River. “There are better solutions that don’t sacrifice rivers and fisheries to prop up an antiquated water management system of overallocated water rights and wasteful dams and canals, and that instead result in the more efficient use of our state’s finite water resources. That’s why the State Water Board should accept FOR’s protest, reject the Tunnel petition, and prioritize water management strategies that safeguard rivers, fish, and communities across California.”
For more than a half-century, Friends of the River (FOR) has been at the forefront of California’s environmentalist movement for a sustainable water future. FOR is dedicated to protecting and restoring California’s rivers, streams, and watersheds, while advocating for water solutions that protect the environment. Healthy rivers are a critical component of California’s climate future, and FOR rejects the notion that the state must choose between healthy river ecosystems and having enough water. With the state’s water crisis approaching a breaking point, FOR is in its toughest fight yet as it works to stop the Delta Tunnel boondoggle while offering more practical and sustainable alternatives to protect and restore California’s rivers.
For more information on Friends of the River, visit https://www.friendsoftheriver.org.
