The documents detailing the proposed changes to the tunnels and other project details are now posted at the Bay Delta Conservation Plan website.
Changes include moving some construction activities and the area for storing ‘reusable tunnel material’ (sometimes referred to as tunnel muck) away from north Delta communities, a much smaller intermediate forebay, and more usage of public lands instead of private lands.
Here are the documents:
- BDCP Refinements Respond to Community and Statewide Needs brochure 8-15-13
- Incorporating Proven Tunnel Technology and Reuse of Excavated Material factsheet 8-15-13
- Map of Proposed BDCP Changes 8-15-13
- BDCP: Expanding Sandhill Crane Habitat factsheet 8-15-13
- In-Delta Office Hours Schedule 8-15-13
Read Matt Weiser’s scoop on the story in today’s Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Here’s the press release:
“The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) on Thursday announced changes to a proposed water conveyance system in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that would shrink by 50 percent the total permanent footprint of the project, shift more than 400 acres of permanent and temporary construction impacts from private to public lands, and otherwise substantially reduce the effects of the project on Delta residents. In response to landowner concerns, DWR is making the changes to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), a seven year effort of federal and state agencies and other stakeholders to stabilize water deliveries from the Delta while enhancing the Delta’s ecosystem, the largest estuary on the West Coast.
The changes announced Thursday include:
- shrinking the new intermediate forebay from 750 acres to 40 surface acres and shifting its location away from the towns of Hood and Courtland and closer to Interstate 5;
- realigning a segment of the proposed twin tunnels several miles to the east to lands owned by a private nonprofit group on Staten Island, away from the Pearson District, Brannan Island, and Walnut Grove;
- shortening the main tunnels from 35 miles to 30 miles;
- using DWR-owned properties south of Hood as a construction staging area and DWR-owned properties near Interstate 5 as a re-usable tunnel material storage area;
- decreasing from 151 to 81 the number of structures affected by the project;
- reducing from 60 feet to 30 feet the height of the intake pumping plants along the Sacramento River by relying on a mobile crane rather than a permanent gantry crane inside each building;
- reducing from seven to five the number of tunnel launch/retrieval shaft locations;
- eliminating borrow pit areas north of Hood and reducing the staging area from 400 acres to 200 acres;
- working with landowners and stakeholders to use excavated material to improve and preserve wildlife habitat on Zacharias Ranch on Glanville Tract and on Staten Island; and
- modifying and strengthening the existing Clifton Court Forebay for improved operations of north and south Delta conveyance.
Read the full text of the press release here: Changes to Proposed Delta Conveyance Project Would substantially Reduce Impacts to Private Landowners and Residents 8-15-13
