Delta tunnel project clears important hurdle with release of final environmental report

The California Department of Water Resources has released its final environmental impact report for the proposed Delta Conveyance Project, signifying the last step mandated by the state before the report’s certification and the controversial project’s possible approval.

Also known as the Delta Tunnel, among other various names over the decades, the current version of the project would construct two water intakes in the North Delta and one underground tunnel. The system — with an estimated price tag of somewhere between $16 billion to $40 billion — would pull water from the Delta and connect it to the Bethany Reservoir on the California Aqueduct, before delivering it to homes and farms in Central and Southern California.