SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — An extended-sought and disputed undertaking in drought-prone California aimed toward capturing extra water throughout heavy rain storms reached a key milestone on Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s administration completed an environmental assessment for an underground tunnel.
The tunnel can be about 45 miles (72 kilometers) lengthy and 36 ft (10.9 meters) broad, or massive sufficient to hold greater than 161 million gallons of water per hour. The tunnel can be one other solution to get water from Northern California, the place many of the state’s water is, to Southern California, the place most people stay.
The Newsom administration says the tunnel is a obligatory improve of the state’s growing older infrastructure as a result of it’ll defend the water provide from earthquakes and seize extra water from rainstorms referred to as atmospheric rivers that scientists say have been growing due to local weather change.
However environmental teams, Native American tribes and different opponents say the undertaking will take extra water out of the river than is important and can hurt endangered species of fish.
Friday, the California Division of Water Assets launched its final environmental impact report for the undertaking. The report is the final step of a fancy and prolonged state regulatory course of. However it does not imply the undertaking is near being constructed. The undertaking nonetheless should full a federal environmental assessment and acquire varied state and federal permits. That course of is anticipated to final till 2026.
State officers haven’t stated how a lot it’ll price to construct it. A earlier estimate on a unique model of the tunnel was for $16 billion. State officers will launch a brand new price estimate subsequent yr.
Nonetheless, Friday’s report is critical as a result of it alerts the Newsom administration’s dedication to finishing the undertaking regardless of robust opposition from communities within the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta area. Newsom says local weather change is threatening the state’s entry to scrub consuming water, warning the state’s provide may drop 10% by 2040.
The state lately went three years with out important, sustained rain. The drought dropped reservoirs to dangerously low levels and compelled tens of millions of individuals to ration their provide. That drought ended instantly final winter when California was hit by a sequence of storms that flooded the state’s rivers and filled lake beds that had been dry for years.
State officers stated had this tunnel existed throughout these storms, the state may have captured and saved sufficient water for two.3 million individuals to make use of for one yr.
“Doing nothing will not be an choice,” Newsom stated.
Environmental teams say the Newsom administration is ignoring their issues. The Sierra Membership stated in a press release that the tunnel’s development and operation would “trigger mass environmental destruction for Delta communities and ecosystems.” Scott Artis, government director of the Golden State Salmon Affiliation, referred to as it “an extinction plan for salmon.”
Jon Rosenfield, science director for San Francisco Baykeeper, stated California already diverts greater than half of the water flowing by Central Valley rivers for farms and massive cities, which threaten native species of fish.
“The science clearly demonstrates that fish want elevated river flows to outlive, however state companies are ignoring it,” Rosenfield stated. “Chinook salmon, steelhead, longfin smelt and different fish which have thrived right here for millennia can’t survive the Newsom administration’s assault on San Francisco Bay and its watershed.”
California Pure Assets Secretary Wade Crowfoot stated the Newsom administration has secured greater than $1 billion in funding during the last three years to extend flows in rivers for environmental functions and to broaden habitat for fish and different wildlife.
“Our dedication stays steadfast for water resilience, not just for human communities, but additionally for our pure communities,” he stated.
Adel Hagekhalil, common supervisor of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, stated the company will assessment the findings from the environmental affect report to find out “how finest to take a position our sources.” The water district supplies water to 19 million individuals.
“The latest drought was a strong indicator of simply how weak the State Water Venture is – deliveries had been so low final yr that some Southern California communities may solely get a fraction of the water they usually depend on,” Hagekhalil stated. “Stopping this from occurring once more will take daring motion and a transparent recognition of the challenges we face.”
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