By Lester Snow, Director of the California Department of Water Resources and Secretary for Natural Resources under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Since the 1960s, governors of both parties, quite different in their priorities, have struggled to protect water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Every time voters, legislators, or regulators defeated a governor’s proposal, another proposal replaced it. Why? Because when the status quo invites economic and ecological catastrophe, if you’re governor, doing nothing is derelict.
Governor Gavin Newsom has tackled this problem with as much energy and creativity as any of his predecessors. Upon taking office in 2019, he directed the California Department of Water Resources to reconsider Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed WaterFix project, which would have built two tunnels under the Delta to carry Sacramento River water to the State Water Project pumping plant that supplies 27 million Californians from San Jose to San Diego. Governor Newsom shrunk the project to a single tunnel, rerouted it to avoid disruptions to historic Delta towns as much as possible, eliminated a forebay and a riverside intake, and reduced by a third the volume of water the tunnel could carry.
A 22,000-page environmental review analyzed this downsized project and 11 major federal and state environmental permitting processes are underway. The proposed project — two new screened intakes on the Sacramento River and a 45-mile-long tunnel — would protect water supplies from catastrophic disruption when Delta levees break and saltwater from San Francisco Bay rushes inland toward the State Water Project pumps. It also would allow capture of water at times when the existing south Delta pumps are restricted to protect threatened fish species, thus reducing the conflict between water supply and environmental protection.
In the last seven years, Governor Newsom endured epic drought, flood, and heat, reinforcing the need for infrastructure like this to stabilize water supplies through weather whiplash. Now, with little more than a year left in office, he has crafted a legislative package to surgically trim processes used by opponents to slow the project, without short-circuiting review or public participation. His proposed legislation would, for example, confirm that the Delta Conveyance Project is a part of the State Water Project and therefore eligible to be paid for in the same way that State Water Project facilities have been paid for since the 1960s, which is through the sale of revenue bonds repaid by the public water districts served by the State Water Project. Inserting that simple statement of fact into statute would save years of court proceedings and make it more affordable for millions of ratepayers in the Bay Area, Central Coast, San Joaquin Valley, South Coast, Inland Empire, and San Diego to fund the project.
With this legislative proposal, Governor Newsom handed state lawmakers a tool to make water supplies a lot more secure for the next generation of Californians. The Delta exists in a climate-squeezed vise, with sea levels rising to the west and floods peaking higher from the east. It’s time to get on with thoughtful, well-studied infrastructure that protects water supply and native fish and not get caught by catastrophe.
Lester Snow served as the Director of the California Department of Water Resources and Secretary for Natural Resources under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also served as a regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation under Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and as the general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Maven’s Notebook.
LESTER SNOW COMMENTARY: Governor Newsom gives state lawmakers opportunity to make water supplies more secure for Californians
By Lester Snow, Director of the California Department of Water Resources and Secretary for Natural Resources under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Since the 1960s, governors of both parties, quite different in their priorities, have struggled to protect water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Every time voters, legislators, or regulators defeated a governor’s proposal, another proposal replaced it. Why? Because when the status quo invites economic and ecological catastrophe, if you’re governor, doing nothing is derelict.
Governor Gavin Newsom has tackled this problem with as much energy and creativity as any of his predecessors. Upon taking office in 2019, he directed the California Department of Water Resources to reconsider Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed WaterFix project, which would have built two tunnels under the Delta to carry Sacramento River water to the State Water Project pumping plant that supplies 27 million Californians from San Jose to San Diego. Governor Newsom shrunk the project to a single tunnel, rerouted it to avoid disruptions to historic Delta towns as much as possible, eliminated a forebay and a riverside intake, and reduced by a third the volume of water the tunnel could carry.
A 22,000-page environmental review analyzed this downsized project and 11 major federal and state environmental permitting processes are underway. The proposed project — two new screened intakes on the Sacramento River and a 45-mile-long tunnel — would protect water supplies from catastrophic disruption when Delta levees break and saltwater from San Francisco Bay rushes inland toward the State Water Project pumps. It also would allow capture of water at times when the existing south Delta pumps are restricted to protect threatened fish species, thus reducing the conflict between water supply and environmental protection.
In the last seven years, Governor Newsom endured epic drought, flood, and heat, reinforcing the need for infrastructure like this to stabilize water supplies through weather whiplash. Now, with little more than a year left in office, he has crafted a legislative package to surgically trim processes used by opponents to slow the project, without short-circuiting review or public participation. His proposed legislation would, for example, confirm that the Delta Conveyance Project is a part of the State Water Project and therefore eligible to be paid for in the same way that State Water Project facilities have been paid for since the 1960s, which is through the sale of revenue bonds repaid by the public water districts served by the State Water Project. Inserting that simple statement of fact into statute would save years of court proceedings and make it more affordable for millions of ratepayers in the Bay Area, Central Coast, San Joaquin Valley, South Coast, Inland Empire, and San Diego to fund the project.
With this legislative proposal, Governor Newsom handed state lawmakers a tool to make water supplies a lot more secure for the next generation of Californians. The Delta exists in a climate-squeezed vise, with sea levels rising to the west and floods peaking higher from the east. It’s time to get on with thoughtful, well-studied infrastructure that protects water supply and native fish and not get caught by catastrophe.
Lester Snow served as the Director of the California Department of Water Resources and Secretary for Natural Resources under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also served as a regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation under Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and as the general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Maven’s Notebook.
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