Blog: Mature Choices for a Mature State
From the Bay Delta Conservation Plan Blog, in a post by Richard Stapler, California Natural Resources Agency:
“As California has matured as a state, we continue to take well-conceived steps toward lessening our potential for harm from earthquakes. … Take for instance, upgrades to one of the Bay Area’s primary water conveyance, the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System. About $4.6 billion will be spent to seismically upgrade the aging system. For the 2.5 million people it serves, that works out to about $1,840 per individual. When you take into account having access to fresh water versus not, the investment value seems evident.
“The 25 million Californians who get some or all of their water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta face a similar risk. The region has been highly manipulated over the past 150 years, with levees of varying strength protecting dozens of islands. … These levees pose a significant risk to our state’s water supply. …
“The Bay Delta Conservation Plan seeks to avoid such a catastrophe by proposing a new, underground water conveyance system, designed to safeguard supplies against seismic activity.”