EPA says California’s Delta water tunnel project could violate federal law

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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/08/28/3217043/epa-says-californias-delta-water.html?sp=/99/177/348//



A great blue heron perches on a bridge in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where the state plans to build two huge water diversion tunnels, a project that might violate federal law, according to the EPA.

EPA says California’s Delta water tunnel project could violate federal law
By Matt Weiser
August 28, 2014 Updated 6 hours ago

The pair of giant water diversion tunnels proposed in the Delta could violate the federal Clean Water Act and increase harm to endangered fish species, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which released its formal comment on the project Thursday.

In a 43-page letter sent Tuesday to the National Marine Fisheries Service and released publicly on the EPA’s website Thursday, the EPA said its research found that by diverting freshwater from three new intakes proposed on the Sacramento River – farther upstream from existing intakes – the project is likely to increase concentrations of salinity, mercury, bromide, chloride, selenium and pesticides in the estuary.

The letter was submitted as part of the formal comment process for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, a $25 billion proposal by the state of California to re-engineer water diversions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The most controversial element of the plan is a massive pair of tunnels, 40 feet in diameter and 30 miles long, that would divert a portion of the Sacramento River’s flow at three intakes proposed near Courtland, routing the water to existing diversion pumps near Tracy. The goal is to avoid reverse flows in the estuary caused by the current diversion pumps, which are one source of ecological trouble in the Delta. The new intakes also would have modern fish screens, whereas the current intakes near Tracy do not.