SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Approximately 100 concerned Delta residents gathered at a public forum in the community of Hood Tuesday to express concern with the Delta Tunnel proposal.
Among the speakers was State Senator Bill Dodd, Attorney Osha Meserve, State Assemblymember Lori Wilson and State Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua.
The proposal reduces the original two tunnel plan, proposed by former Governor Jerry Brown, to a single tunnel by the Newsom Administration and the Department of Water Resources. The Department of Water Resources was invited to attend but declined.
The new plan calls for a 40-foot wide concrete tunnel to draw water from the Hood and Courtland areas approximately 45 miles south to Bethany Reservoir. The current estimates are that it would cost $16 billion dollars and take 13 years to complete.
The tunnel would draw 3,000 cubic feet of water per second and would account for approximately 13% to 15% of the overall water supply.
However, not everyone believes the estimates proposed in the Environmental Impact Report.
"Why would you buy the equivalent of a Maserati and only drive it 10 miles per hour?" said Attorney Osha Meserve, when referencing the water supply numbers.
The meeting lasted for over an hour and a half and topics ranged from environmental concerns, water quality, farmland loss, economic impacts, air quality and more.
The comment deadline on the State’s Delta Conveyance Draft Environmental Impact Report is open until Dec. 16.
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