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  • “Muck:” A Reusable Material from Tunneling

    June 13, 2013

    By Richard Stapler, Deputy Director, Communications
    California Natural Resources Agency

    Reusable Tunnel Material Conveyor

    Lessons learned from hauling material up from deep under San Francisco Bay might prove of great value in the restoration of the ecology of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the protection of the public water supply that flows through it to farmlands and 25 million Californians.

    The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) includes twin tunnels to protect and transport that water. While tunneling is new to the Delta, it is hardly new to the water industry.

    Now in the final construction stages, a San Francisco Bay tunnel project is remarkably ...

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  • Making Storage Work

    May 16, 2013

    By Nancy Vogel
    California Department of Water Resources

    In the last generation, an amount of water storage roughly equivalent to twice the capacity of Lake Shasta, California’s biggest reservoir, has been developed south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  That includes nearly five million acre-feet of groundwater storage in Kern County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s 810,000 acre-foot Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County.

    This storage makes it possible for California to hold ample supplies captured in wet years to help withstand dry cycles.  But California needs a better way to capture water when it is available.

    San ...

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  • Full Analysis of Potential Impacts of BDCP Now Available

    May 10, 2013

    By Karla Nemeth
    California Natural Resources Agency

    After seven years of discussion and analysis, state and federal agencies have posted for public information an evaluation of alternative ways to address water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, including effects on the natural and human environments.

     

    The 20,000-page consultant draft environmental impact report/environmental impact statement (EIR/EIS) on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) is available here.  It details the potential effects of the plan and alternatives on water supplies, air quality, agriculture, recreation, transportation, land use, and other aspects of the natural and human environments.  ...

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  • Video Blog: Seismic Risk in the Delta

    May 06, 2013

    Learn more about  the risk of an earthquake disrupting the flow of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to 25 million Californians  in this video featuring Raymond Seed, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley.  Seed spoke April 26 to the Southern California Water Committee, a non-profit, non-partisan group dedicated to educating Southern Californians about  water issues.

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  • Finding A Way to Share Design and Construction Oversight

    April 26, 2013

    By Nancy Vogel

    California Department of Water Resources

    The California Department of Water Resources (DWR), the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and public agencies that buy water from the State Water Project and Central Valley Project have been discussing the potential structure of a partnership to oversee design and construction of new water intakes and conveyance in the Delta, as well as associated mitigation under the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).  McKinsey & Company consulting firm was hired to help frame the issues and facilitate discussion.

     

    One scenario under consideration is a joint exercise of powers agreement, which would allow ...

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  • Are the Bay Delta Conservation Plan’s Benefits Worth the Expense?

    April 22, 2013

    By Karla Nemeth
    California Natural Resources Agency

    It’s the billion-dollar question. When the numbers for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) are added up, will they also figure?

    The investment in the proposed BDCP, or any alternative, is going to be sizeable, totaling in the estimated billions of dollars. The exact amount is still being determined.

    Whatever the cost, BDCP divides it between water users and the public. Water users would be responsible for the larger cost of constructing the big underground pipes many believe are necessary to create a safe and secure water system. The public would help pay ...

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  • What the BDCP Is -- and Isn't

    April 05, 2013

    By Nancy Vogel
    California Department of Water Resources 

    The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is so big -- the draft environmental reports top 18,000 pages -- and so comprehensive in the way it seeks the long-term recovery of dozens of protected species that it's easy to forget that the BDCP is just one element in a broader plan.

     

    The BDCP is a plan to comply with federal and state endangered species laws.  The contents of the draft plan are dictated by the requirements of those species-protection laws.  The BDCP can go a long way toward accomplishing the dual goals of ...

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  • Oil & Water

    March 20, 2013

    By Richard Stapler, Deputy Director, Communications
    California Natural Resources Agency

    Modified on April 3, 2013 to correct the average amount of water exported from the Delta.

    With apologies to all the sci-fi fans out there, I have to say I deplore the term "fracking." It's shorthand for an important process called hydraulic fracturing used in the oil extraction business. The process uses water and a small mix of chemicals to fracture and prop open rock formations thousands of feet under the earth's surface to allow for pumping of crude oil.

    So, it's helpful to know that only 8 acre feet ...

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  • BDCP: Based on Science, Environmental Research, and Economic Realities

    March 13, 2013

    By Jerry Meral
    California Natural Resources Agency

    A variety of conservation groups and municipal water agencies have proposed a “portfolio alternative” to be considered regarding movement of water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and other water management concepts. They suggest this alternative be evaluated in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. Some of the “portfolio alternative” concepts are being evaluated in the Plan and its environmental review documents, such as a 3,000 cfs facility and a variety of operating criteria with different water supply yields. Before they are finalized, the BDCP conservation measures and their effects will undergo a third round ...

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  • The Dual Goals: An Elegant, Simple Reminder of What We’re Working Toward

    March 07, 2013

    By Richard Stapler
    Deputy Secretary, Communications, California Natural Resources Agency

    The 2009 Delta Reform act established two important – yet simple – coequal goals for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. From the bill itself: “Achieve the two coequal goals of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem.”

    The legislation is important context for people following the rollout of draft BDCP chapters over the next month. It reminds us that by law, the plan's elements must come together in a way that helps to rectify both environmental degradation and erratic water deliveries. ...

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