On Wednesday, state and federal officials will announce a new deal to build peripheral tunnels to channel water diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Unfortunately, the plan calls for moving forward with the tunnels before cementing how the system will be used to meet the competing needs of drinking water, agriculture and environmental sustainability. The plan essentially puts off the hard decisions of how California will manage its limited water supply, and simultaneously commits the state to embarking on a controversial solution.
A recent editorial in the Sacramento Bee states:
The trouble is, the decision to construct the tunnels would precede a final agreement on how to operate this new form of "conveyance." As the tunnels are under construction, stakeholders would spend the next 15 years nailing down important questions – such as how much water would be diverted in wet years and dry years – and during different seasons of the year – and how much would be dedicated for estuarine flows to help fish with their natural life cycles.
Activists opposed to this plan are organizing a rally in Sacramento at noon on Wednesday to demonstrate against the proposal. Find out more details here.