1.17.24: AquAlliance, other NGOs, and a few local governments succeeded in a challenge to the funding of the Newsom Administration’s One Tunnel project. This is a huge victory. The California Dept. of Water Resources (DWR) tried to issue bonds to fund the One Tunnel to avoid having the voters or legislature agree to fund it. The effort failed! 

You will recall that no matter what these massive diversion projects are called – Peripheral Canal, Bay Delta Conservation Plan, Twin Tunnels, Delta Conveyance, One Tunnel – the goal has been and is to have an easier time siphoning more water out of the Sacramento Valley and River, mostly for desert agriculture.

AquAlliance has been involved in fighting each effort since we were formed in 2009 – with significant success. Because we represent the watershed under threat and operate out of the county where the State Water Project starts (Oroville Dam), we have unique standing for court cases. Additionally, AquAlliance is the only activist NGO in California that has groundwater protection as its primary focus and is a leader in challenging water transfers.  

To read more, go to Maven’s Notebook:
COURTHOUSE NEWS: California judge rules state can’t issue bonds to finance Delta tunnel project