Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Delta Issues Category
Click here to view all posts

Canal price tag going up, tunneling option looking better

Posted by: Maven on December 11, 2009 at 7:54 am

From the Contra Costa Times:

“Cost estimates for a long-sought but hotly debated canal to carry water around the Delta have doubled in the past year, increasing to the point that boring tunnels may be an attractive and less controversial project.

The numbers are preliminary, but the cost of buying the land, designing and building a Peripheral Canal around the Delta’s eastern flank has soared from $4.2 billion to between $7.9 billion and $8.5 billion, according to state Department of Water Resources. The latest figures are closing in on a roughly $10 billion cost of sending the water through a pair of tunnels beneath the Delta.

The estimates do not include inflation, levee improvements needed to maintain existing water delivery operations, water storage facilities, some of the costs to repair environmental damage and other features, some of which have been included in of higher estimates in the past year.

But the figures, given to a group of water officials, regulators and environmentalists last week, provide an apples-to-apples comparison that shows the state’s official cost estimate for a Peripheral Canal is rising rapidly. “We knew this was never going to be cheap,” said Jerry Johns, deputy director for the state Department of Water Resources. … “

Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.

December 11, 2009 · Filed Under Delta Issues

Comments

Leave a Reply