User:AlexWillard/California Water Fix and Eco Restore

The WaterFix was originally known as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and was going to assist in protecting the endangered species located in the Delta. However, it was changed to become the California WaterFix due to the inability between the State regulators and federal regulatory agencies to reach an agreement. This led to the California WaterFix being in stuck in development for over a decade, with hundreds of thousands of hours and millions of dollars being poured into the planning of the project.

Background

In August of 2015, a joint petition was submitted by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources in an effort to reclassify the conditions that were set for water right permits to the State Water Board in an effort to include further diversion points of water for the California WaterFix Project along the Sacramento River.

The California WaterFix project was "a proposal to modify the point of diversion for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta."

The State Water Project was planned to divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into a 22,000-cubic feet per second canal from the Sacramento River to a water-pumping plant located at Clifton Court Forebay. However, this never came to fruition, and in 2006, the California WaterFix began.

A study was conducted by the NOAA Fisheries, and they came to the conclusion that the California WaterFix's construction and operations, which were proposed in 2017, would not bring any danger to the Chinook salmon that would participate in the winter-run in the Sacramento River. In addition, this study also concluded that it would not threaten the Chinook salmon's spring-run, the North American green sturgeon, California Central Valley steelhead, and the Southern Resident Killer Whales, as if the Chinook salmon were to be endangered, it would disrupt the food chain as they rely on the Chinook salmon for food.

Water Fix

In August of 2015, California's Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation had filed a join petition to change the water right permit conditions in order to have addition diversion points of water along the Sacramento River.

In May of 2019, the Department of Water Resources withdrew the proposed permits for the WaterFix project, conducting a new environmental review, and began the planning processes for a significantly smaller singular tunnel project that would replace the WaterFix project. This project will help prevent rising sea-levels and salt water from intruding in the Delta, giving the water supply more reliability while maintaining limited impacts on the communities and fish that rely on the Delta.