Brady PieperThe Metropolitan Water District (MWD) in California is injecting millions into a drinking water modernization initiative to protect the state’s critical resources in the event of an emergency and improve water quality for millions of residents.
MWD’s Board of Directors is approving funding for the Delta Conveyance Project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a multiphase initiative seeking to increase reliability and enhance resiliency in California’s drinking water systems. The local funding, totaling approximately $142 million, will support state-led efforts to adapt essential facilities against the rising threat of climate change.
Fed by the Sierra Nevada mountains, a significant portion of the state’s drinking water flows through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Depending on water rights, the fresh water is captured along segments of the delta and enables the conveyance of California’s primary water supply and success of the state’s economy.
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The Delta Conveyance Project, helmed by the California Department of Water Resources, will modernize facilities along this vital water nexus. Backed by over a decade of expert input, the project will enhance the reliability of the State Water Project, which supplies water to more than 27 million Californians from the Bay Area to Southern California.
Overall, the project’s planning and pre-construction phase is estimated to cost approximately $300 million. The board’s recently approved portion represents 47.2% of the phase’s total cost and will enable the project to complete all necessary steps prior to breaking ground, which is expected by 2028.
The Delta Conveyance Project will prioritize two main goals: to make California’s water purification, transportation and distribution systems more resilient and to improve long-term reliability in the State Water Project.
To accomplish this, the proposed project would construct two new intakes on the Sacramento River in the northern section of the Delta, develop a 45-mile underground tunnel and a new pumping plant to more efficiently transport water to the Bethany Reservoir at the California Aqueduct. These improvements are intended to enhance the State Water Project’s capacity to move and store water, particularly during the state’s increasingly erratic storm events.
The project’s planning and pre-construction phase will benefit from an extended term under MWD’s funding approval, ending on Dec. 31, 2027. Project timelines and potential construction contracting periods will be announced as the current phase progresses.
Completion of the Delta Conveyance Project will cap what has been a more than a decade-long effort to improve water management in the state and rejuvenate conveyance facilities in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
In addition to drinking water benefits, the project would be an essential strategy to combat climate change in Northern California. By preventing future water supply losses, the project will ensure the State Water Project can mitigate sea level rise, extreme weather and earthquakes.
Looking ahead, MWD’s Board of Directors will await further design and permitting updates, cost estimates and direct project benefits later in 2027. While MWD reserves the right not to participate in the construction process, more information on the Delta Conveyance Project can be found on the board’s full funding agreement.
Photo courtesy Pacific Southwest Region USFWS from Sacramento, US, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
