Tunnel trouble
California’s water system plan is in limbo.
SAN FRANCISCO — Two massive, $16 billion tunnels that looked to be the future of California’s water system have been thrown into limbo by a group of powerful farmers, and Gov. Jerry Brown and other tunnel proponents are facing the prospect that the project may end up just a pipe dream.
The board of Westlands Water District voted to withdraw its participation from the project after more than an hour of tense discussions and comments from farmers who overwhelmingly concluded it was too expensive.
Water is a contentious issue in California, which leads the nation in agricultural production, growing nearly half of its fruits, nuts and vegetables. Irrigation water now flows through a complex system of reservoirs and canals managed by state and federal officials thatwas built decades ago.
Brown and other legislators say the aging water infrastructure must be modernized.
The project calls for building two 35-mile-long tunnels east of San Francisco to deliver water from the Sacramento River mostly to farms and cities hundreds of miles away in central and Southern California.
Backers say the tunnels will stabilize delta flows, bolster endangered fish and ensure a reliable water supply. Critics say the project will be used to drain Northern California dry and harm native fish.
Tuesday’s vote— the first among several large water districts — leaves the project’s future in peril.
The powerful Westlands agency provides irrigation water to 1,000 square miles in the San Joaquin Valley, some of the nation’s richest farmland.
Officials in other districts were watching the Westlands vote as they prepare to make their decisions on the project that has been on the drawing board for more than a decade.
Opponents representing delta farmers, who long battled against the tunnels, considered the Westlands vote a good day for California. They’d prefer seeing money spent on capturing Californians’ storm runoff and replacing leaky toilets as ways to ease the demand for delta water.