From Local News Matters: Water War on the Delta

Ruth Dusseault, who works for Bay City News and its nonprofit affiliate Local News Matters, and also teaches at UC Berkeley, is a gifted storyteller. In a three-part series published last week, Dusseault tells a very big story. It's about  The Delta Conveyance Project, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal "for a 45-mile underground tube that would tap fresh water from its source in the north and carry it beneath a vast wetland to users in the south."

“The Tunnel Vision” is a three-part series published on Local News Matters and dropped simultaneously as a podcast. From BCN: “This is a local story about a global issue, the future of water. In a three-part series of field reports and podcasts, Bay City News reporter Ruth Dusseault looks at the tunnel’s stakeholders, its engineering challenges, and explores the preindustrial Delta and its future restoration."

Dusseault’s story consists of a thorough field report—including accounts of her visits to the Delta and conversations with local farmers, fishermen and environmentalists, as well as interviews with state officials who have been wrestling with these problems for decades. These officials include Jennifer Pierre, the general manager of the State Water Contractors at the Department of Water Resources, Felicia Marcus, the Landreth Visiting Fellow in Stanford’s Water in the West program and former chair of the California Water Resources Control Board, and Congressman John Garamendi.

Part one of the series sets the stage, and is a powerful introduction to a terrifying tale too few Californians are aware of. For example, these two deeply related facts: “In 2023, only 106 [coho salmon] returned to the Sacramento River during the spring run,” says Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association. “That’s not 106,000—it’s 106 individual fish.” At the same time, almond production in the Central Valley, which depends on state water deliveries, has exploded. 

“The valley used to grow a myriad of crops that could be fallowed occasionally during dry season,” Dusseault reports. Quoting Artis: “Now they have trees that need water all year round, so there’s constant water diversions that need to happen.”

In part two, Dusseault introduces Steve Minassian, the engineer in charge of building the 43 mile tunnel. Whatever position you might take on whether this project should proceed, the technological ambition is deeply fascinating. In part three, Dusseault pivots, and speaks to Indigenous leaders who talk about their water rights, which (obviously?) pre-date even the Delta farmers, who were among the first to practice “modern” agriculture in Northern California.

All told, this is a great read. As a lifelong radio junkie and daily podcast fan, I have to say it’s an even better listen. Find it here.