Independent research and analysis of California's developed water systems
The Department of Water Resources will be holding a webinar on consideration of climate change for the Delta tunnel project on August 25, 2021. The following discussion is from my testimony in 2016 for Part 1A of the WaterFix Water Right Change Petition hearing. It explains some key problems with the consideration of shifts in … Continue reading Consideration of climate change in the Delta tunnel project
Remarks by Deirdre Des Jardins at the April 16, 2021 Delta Independent Science Board meeting. One of the most valuable contributions of the Delta Independent Science Board is when they speak inconvenient truths. One example of this is the BDCP / WaterFix project, which is a “hard” adaptation to climate change. The locations for the … Continue reading On the Delta Independent Science Board and Inconvenient Truths
In spite of protests by Delta legacy community groups, there has been substantial engineering work on a single tunnel project since DWR rescinded the approvals for the twin tunnel project on May 2, 2019.
The Senior Planning Manager of the WaterFix project has been the president of an obscure company in Idaho called 5RMK.... This kind of risk management is a common arrangement for construction of oil and gas pipelines.
Whether there is one Delta tunnel or two, the construction of a large diameter tunnel in Delta soils consisting of sedimentary layers of peat, sand, silt, and clay is a significant engineering challenge. The Highway 99 tunnel in Seattle, bored by “Big Bertha,” was constructed in glacial deposits with layers of sand, silt, and clay … Continue reading WaterFix: Tunneling risks and tunnel construction contracts
DWR's preliminary engineering analysis showed the WaterFix tunnel lining design could leak in a maximum earthquake in the Delta.
Why did the Delta Independent Science Board call the WaterFix sea level rise assumptions "dangerously unrealistic?"