In 1982, the public rejected the Peripheral Canal at the ballot box.  In the last several years, the Canal has been revived as a possible strategy to address the very real concerns about the current state of Delta levees. Too often, however, the debate about a Peripheral Canal is limited to an abstract discussion.  The debate over this controversial facility will never be a productive discussion until it is grounded in specific proposals and thorough analysis – How would a canal be designed?  How would it be operated?  What impacts would it have?  Who would run it?  DWR has quietly released a document that will help tether this discussion to specific alternatives.  This initial analysis of an isolated facility was submitted to Delta Vision and the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan process.    

Our initial response to this analysis is attached.   The conclusion of DWR’s analysis is that an isolated facility could allow the CVP and SWP to increase total diversions by a maximum of roughly 2 million acre-feet per year.   It is important to note that this is not a DWR proposal, nor is it a draft environmental document.  I certainly don’t expect an initial analysis to address fully all of the issues related to an isolated facility.  However, the conclusions, assumptions, omissions and biases in this document are troubling.  When it comes to fundamental changes in Delta conveyance, details and analysis matter.  We are now just at the start of a meaningful discussion of these issues, not at its conclusion.