ECOS/Habitat 2020 Concerns with Latest Delta Tunnel Plan

On April 17, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) and Habitat 2020 submitted our comments, under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), on the latest iteration of the Delta Conveyance Project.

Our concerns include the following:

  • Project needs to be defined clearly
  • Appropriate alternatives must be considered for the project as a whole
  • Appropriate Alternatives must be considered for infrastructure components
  • Impact of mechanically assisted flows in the tunnels need to be analyzed
  • Analysis needs to assume that all Reusable Tunnel Material (RTM) will need to be disposed, rather than repurposed
  • Accurate transportation impacts must be provided
  • Impacts to Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge need to be avoided
  • The full impacts of transmission lines need to be included
  • Transmission line strikes need to be analyzed for foraging Sandhill Cranes

Click here to read our letter in full.

Photo above by Osha Meserve

Save the Delta, Stop the Tunnel

Take Action!

Deadline: April 17, 2020 (Close of Business)

For those of us at home, the feeling of helplessness can be real. BUT we can still help the earth! Right now, you can take action to Save the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Please share! And take care.

Barring another extension, comments on the Department of Water Resources’ Notice of Preparation for the Delta Conveyance Project Environmental Impact Report are now due on April 17th. Please write a short letter asking for a full review of this massive project’s devastating impacts on the environment. Click here for the Delta Conveyance Notice of Preparation, published January 15, 2020. Click here for some previously submitted comment letters.

We encourage you to:

  • educate yourself on the Delta Conveyance Project,
  • share this message; and
  • send an email with your letter, if you can.

Learn More

Click here to learn all about the Delta Conveyance Project, aka “The Tunnel.”



Photos by Osha Meserve.

Private Wells and Groundwater Sustainability

April 10, 2020

The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) and Habitat 2020 have submitted a comment letter regarding the subject of significant and unreasonable domestic, shallow agricultural and small system well impact evaluation as part of Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) preparation.

Click here to view the comment letter.

Attachment: NGO letter to California Natural Resource Agency, Department of Water Resources, Cal EPA Special Counsel for Water Policy, and State Water Resources Control Board titled “Reviewing Groundwater Sustainability Plans In Accordance With State Agency Obligations to Consider the Human Right to Drinking Water”, February 10, 2020

South American Subbasin Alternative Comments

July 25, 2019

Dear Mr. Eck:

As you are aware, ECOS and Habitat 2020 have been following the Sacramento Central Groundwater Authority’s (Authority) development of the South American Subbasin Alternative (South American Alternative), and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) review and decision regarding its acceptability under the terms and requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

The letter you received, dated July 17, 2019, from DWR’s Deputy Director Taryn Ravazzini, and the accompanying staff report, form a well-reasoned determination that the South American Alternative will not satisfy the requirements of SGMA. While the Authority is given thirty days to provide information to refute DWR’s findings, it seems that devoting time to this pursuit is not in the best interest of the Sacramento region and the Authority.

Ralph Propper and Rob Burness

Full letter here.

Save Our Groundwater!

June 6, 2018

The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) filed a comment in March of 2017 on the Sacramento Central Groundwater Authority’s (SCGA) petition to be deemed an acceptable “alternative plan” under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The purpose of our June 6, 2018 letter is to reiterate our opposition to that petition and to urge the Department of Water Resources (DWR) again to find that SCGA is not in compliance with SGMA.

Some highlights:

  • groundwater levels continue to fall in the portions of the basin that most affect the important ecological resources of the lower Cosumnes watershed
  • SCGA continues to make little effort to encourage or facilitate public engagement in its ongoing deliberations
  • SCGA does no targeted outreach, apparently maintains no list of interested parties, and has a web site that is of very limited usefulness
  • SCGA needs to recognize that public engagement is a key component of SGMA compliance
  • SCGA is currently reassessing its rate structure and could adjust its rates to account for costs of both plan preparation and projects/programs to which they have committed and to date ignored

Click here to see the letter in full (PDF).