The Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) is a project that provides for the realization in California of a 72 km underground tunnel with a diameter of about 11 meters. In most of the water used in California, in fact, it comes from the vast delta where the salted water of the Bay of San Francisco It mixes with the fresh water of the rivers Sacrament And San Joaquin To create the largest estuary on the western coast. The water of the two rivers therefore crosses the dense channels of the delta before being distributed but these are now obsolete and vulnerable to possible earthquakes and raises of water levels. The fresh water comes mainly from the rainfall and the merger of the snows of the Sierra Nevada Before traveling the approximately 70 km in the delta, free -haired, up to the south to be taken and distributed. The problem is that in addition to being subject to possible contaminations After the long journey, the water is also more exposed tosaline intrusion from the seaespecially in drought conditions. This new project will start from two new water sampling points located in the north and will convene the water until the Bethany basin, where its distribution will begin through state aqueducts, allowing you to bypass entirely the delta.
To make the mega-tunnel, which cost $ 25 billion, will be used TBM, or of the giant cylindrical machines that dig deep and while they advance automatically install the self -supporting with concrete coating of the tunnel. Furthermore, in order to put them in place, several will be made vertical wells And the launch areas of Courtland and Hood north of the state will be set up with the prefabrication construction sites of the councils and management of the excavation lands.
Despite the evident need for renew the water distribution system The project is not without opponents. Groups of environmentalists, local communities, and numerous citizens denounce possible devastating consequences For the delta ecosystem, above all underlining the risk for the various protected species following the environmental impact due to the excavation and changes of a hydraulic nature. The main concern is that the project will significantly reduce the amount of fresh water that flows through the delta and this could cause an increase in theintrusion of salted water from the bay to the inside by undermining the natural balances of a fundamental habitat for the survival of many species of fish in particular of the Royal Salmon (on which a part of the Florida Californian fish industry depends).
To date the project is located in a primordial phase, they are in progress public auditions and environmental impact assessments by the State Water Resources Control Boardin order to be able, if everything proceeds according to the provisions, start the work by 2029 and conclude them around 2042.
