Zone 7 board to consider $4.75M for Delta Conveyance Project

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The Zone 7 Water Agency, which serves a majority of the Tri-Valley region, receives approximately 70% of its water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. (Image courtesy of Zone 7 Water Agency)

The Zone 7 Water Agency’s Board of Directors is set to consider continuing to fund and participate in the planning phase for the Delta Conveyance Project at its regular board meeting on Wednesday, following an initial approval to participate for two years in late 2020.

“The DCP would support the Agency’s mission to deliver safe, reliable, efficient, and sustainable water to the residents of the Tri-Valley,” Zone 7 officials said in an announcement. “In addition to the primary benefit of increased reliability through alternative Delta conveyance, the DCP could also provide benefits in water supply and water quality.”

The DCP is of significance to the Zone 7 service area, which includes Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon’s Dougherty Valley, given that the water wholesaling agency receives approximately 70% of its water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The project is aimed at improving the water delivery system of the State Water Project, which Zone 7 is a contractor with.

“Delta conveyance” refers to the travel of water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which functions as the “hub of the State Water Project.” A majority of the state’s water comes from snowmelt in the Sierra Nevada before being conveyed to the nearby Tri-Valley and as far away as San Diego.

The current infrastructure in the region has stood since the 1960s, making it not only aging, but also not fortified to sustain shifts in weather patterns over recent years that have meant an increase of both drought conditions and large storms. The DCP seeks to provide upgrades that will address this, as well as sea level rise and seismic activity.

“The State Water Project infrastructure can be improved to be more resilient to climate change and more flexible in its ability to take advantage of big storms by moving water when it’s available without harming threatened and endangered species,” the agency’s announcement said.

In addition to making SWP infrastructure more reliable, the conveyance project would include an alternate conveyance system for a majority of the water for Zone 7.

With the four-year planning process heading into its second year, the Zone 7 board faces the decision of whether or not to continue for the duration of the process following the two-year approval on Nov. 18, 2020. Costs for continuing to participate are estimated at $4.75M, which would be 2.2% of the price tag of the overall planning process throughout 2023 and 2024.

For the first two years of the planning process, the share of environmental planning costs for Zone 7 was $2.8 million.

Zone 7 directors received an update at their March 16 meeting on the progress of the DCP so far, and upcoming work throughout the end of the year, in addition to plans for the next two years of the four-year planning phase, set to end in December 2024. Currently, the project is in keeping with plans that the board approved in 2020.

The draft environmental impact report for the project, which aims to mitigate any substantial impacts of the DCP by offering potential project alternatives, is set for release to the public in the middle of this year, with the final EIR planned for release next year, and additional environmental review processes set to be completed in 2024. This would mark the end of the planning phase of the DCP. Pending the approval of necessary permits and compliance with legal requirements, the project would then enter the design and construction phase.

Advantages of continuing in the next two years of the planning phase for Zone 7 would include being able to participate in these future developments in the planning process, as well as giving the board an opportunity to influence the project based on the needs and concerns of Tri-Valley residents, according to agency officials.

Committing to continue in the planning process for an additional two years would not mean committing to participate in the final project. The decision to continue funding and participating in the DCP beyond 2024 would be informed by the results of the upcoming environmental planning process, and community engagement, according to the agency’s announcement.

Only agencies engaged in the planning process would be allowed to continue to participate in the DCP at its later stages.