For Immediate Release: Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta

Restore the Delta Responds to State Water Contractors
Comparison of Proposed Tunnels

SACRAMENTO, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), a coalition opposed to the Brown Administration’s rush to construct massive Peripheral Tunnels to take millions of acre-feet of water from the Delta, mainly to benefit mega-growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, responded to the State Water Contractors comparison of the proposed BDCP Dual Tunnel and the proposed alternative single tunnel.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of RTD, said, “The water contractors cannot afford to pay for the proposed twin tunnels unless they pass the exorbitant costs on to urban water rate payers. San Joaquin Valley farmers cannot afford to farm with water that will cost up to $2000 per acre-foot. And Southern California urban water users would be expected to pay thousands of dollars more per household without receiving an extra drop of water.

“The proposed single tunnel project, at half the cost for a third of the water, pencils out to be an even worse deal economically for urban rate payers and San Joaquin Valley agribusiness.

“The real answer is: First, make investments in regional water independence as proposed by NRDC and other environmental groups, by implementing hundreds of small projects that will make more water. Second, improve Delta levees so that a safe yield of Delta water can be shared in a reliable manner. Third, screen and reconfigure the existing pumps. This is how we can actually create more water through a much more reasonable form of public investment,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.