The Board of Supervisors on July 10, 2012 adopted a policy asking the State of California to analyze a wider range of alternatives in its Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The BDCP is an effort of the state and federal governments, and large water districts from the Central Valley, Southern California and Bay Area, to plan and build a pair of large tunnels that will divert fresh water from the Sacramento River before it reaches the Delta. The proposed tunnels will send the water to the export pumps near Tracy for delivery to other parts of the state. The California Natural Resources Agency is the lead agency for the planning effort.
Many agencies and non-governmental groups have taken similar positions to the County's, urging the State to analyze a meaningful range of alternatives. The State to date has not done so. At last count the State was analyzing a set of 14 project alternatives, but all 14 were just different versions of the tunnels.
Recently a coalition of environmental groups, business groups and water districts unveiled a new alternative which they propose for inclusion in the BDCP alternatives analysis. The sponsors of this new alternative include the two largest water districts serving the County -- the Contra Costa Water District and East Bay Municipal Utility District -- as well as the Contra Costa Council, a business group actively involved with the public sector on policy issues. (County staff regularly attend the Contra Costa Council's Water Task Force meetings and provide input to the Council on water issues.)
The Natural Resources Defense Council is the lead organization for distributing the new proposed alternative, which the group refers to as a "portfolio" approach that includes a variety of strategies that could be used separately or together to create a less costly and less environmentally harmful alternative than the tunnels.
The new alternative proposal very closely matches the Board's policy from July 2012. Both call for analysis of a much smaller tunnel than the State is currently considering, and for analysis of non-tunnel approaches to water supply reliability, such as strengthening Delta levees, water conservation programs, and additional reservoir construction to store more water in wet periods so less would need to be pumped from the Delta during dry periods. The proposed tunnel project being pursued by the state does not include any new storage and therefore will rely on increased water exports from the Delta during dry periods to meet southern California water demands. As a result, fishery agencies determined the tunnel project will further harm endangered and threatened fish species. This warning came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The warnings led the State to reduce the size of its proposed tunnels, but the State still is not considering non-tunnel alternatives.
Attached is the Board's policy from July 2012 calling on the State to study other alternatives. Also attached is a letter to the BDCP lead agencies from the environmental groups requesting this portfolio-based conceptual alternative be evaluated in the BDCP. A similar letter from the supporting water agencies is also included in this attachment.
Representatives of both the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Contra Costa Water District will speak on the new proposed alternative at the Board meeting on February 12. The County's water resources consultant, Dr. Richard Denton, also will speak on the issue.
The Delta Counties Coalition, in which Contra Costa County participates, is asking the State to include the new proposal in the BDCP alternatives analysis, as are a number of non-profit advocacy groups and water agencies.
The Director of Conservation and Development recommends the Board support this new proposal for inclusion in the BDCP alternatives analysis, and to authorize the Chair to express this support in a letter to the California Natural Resources Agency.
The proposed study alternative may not have as much strength behind it without support from Delta counties such as Contra Costa County. Lacking such support, it may be easier for the California Natural Resources Agency to refuse to include it in their analysis.
Speaker Bob Whitley, Contra Costa Council supports new alternative for analysis in the State's Bay-Delta Conservation Plan.