California audit shows twin-tunnel WaterFix is broken

When it comes to solving California’s water challenge, Gov. Jerry Brown has been as inept as Republicans trying to offer up a health care solution. A devastating report released Thursday by state auditor Elaine Howle makes that clear.

Despite eight years of pushing his Delta twin tunnels plan, the 91-page report says the state “has not completed either an economic or financial analysis to demonstrate the financial liability of WaterFix (the name the governor gave the project).

“Furthermore,” the auditor writes, “DWR has not fully implemented a governance structure for the design and construction of WaterFix. Moreover, DWR has not maintained important program management documents for WaterFix.”

It begs the question: What could possibly persuade any water agency in the state to help pay for the $17 billion construction of two massive tunnels through the Delta to make it easier to move water from Northern California to Southern California? The state can’t even guarantee that the tunnels will carry any more water to farms or urban areas than they get now.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors is scheduled to vote Oct. 17 on whether to obligate local ratepayers and customers to help pay for this boondoggle. It would be irresponsible to write the state a blank check — $600 million to $1 billion is the latest guess — when local dollars could be used for real improvements, including storage, recycling and conservation, that we know can solve our water shortage.

Westlands Water District, the nation’s largest agricultural water district serving about 700 Central Valley farms, has already rejected spending money on the project. Five water dis- tricts, including Zone 7 Water Agency serving 220.000 customers in Alameda County have approved the project. The Metropolitan Water District, which provides water to 19 million people in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, will make its crucial vote Tuesday.

The entire Bay Area has a huge stake in the outcome because the environmental health of the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta is at stake. The tunnel plan does not protect it from salt water incursion, if the rivers are over-pumped, that could destroy it as a water source.

The governor has displayed a rare blind spot on water issues every since voters killed his peripheral canal plan in 1982.

Good alternatives cost significantly less. For example, the Westlands rejection has some water experts re- examining the “portfolio alternative” backed by environmentalists including the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The portfolio alternative would include a mix of enhanced storage, groundwater re- charging and recycling efforts along with a cheaper single tunnel that would carry less water but act as a backup plan in case the Delta’s fragile levee system failed. Brown would do well to explore its potential — or else give up on water and let the next governor tackle it.

The state auditor has made it clear that the governor’s WaterFix is broken beyond repair. Water districts need to bail now and get working on a plan that actually fixes something.