To the editor: A yes or no decision is no way to evaluate a $16 billion water infrastructure project like the Delta Transportation Project, a tunnel that would reinforce a system that would carry water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta south. Of California.
A tunnel could be useful during atmospheric rivers. But with $16 billion invested, who would want to let that much fresh water flow from rivers into the ocean in drier years, even if fish die and San Francisco Bay turns green?
Consider Tulare Lake, which was once the largest natural freshwater lake in the West before it began to dry up in the 19th century. California's abdication of water planning to local interests has turned Tulare Lake into a flooding nightmare.
Why bring in more fresh water right after this nightmare, adding to the water already in the California Aqueduct, where a huge earthquake could create a giant moat around Bakersfield?
How about the alternatives? How about decentralized infrastructure, such as continuing to improve stormwater recovery in Southern California?
To make a smart decision on a $16 billion water infrastructure project, we must evaluate that decision against some smart alternatives.
Alan Bair, Pasadena
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To the editor: Restore the Delta, a group opposed to the tunnel, reminds me that you can't please all the people all the time. The group also has a bad name.
Their goal is not to restore the Delta, but to preserve the current mode of operation that transports water from the State Hydraulic Project through the Delta, a huge benefit to local agriculture.
The Delta Transportation Project would actually result in a water flow that would more closely resemble historical flows before the State Water Project was built, which would be more beneficial to the environment.
The CEO's claim that “it is much easier, in a disaster, to fix a levee than a tunnel” ignores the fact that a tunnel is much more seismically resistant, and that there are 1,100 miles of levees in the Delta, many of which are extremely vulnerable since they were built during the gold rush era.
Dan Masnada, Santa Clarita
The writer was CEO of the Castaic Lake Water Agency from 2002 to 2016.
