Construction and Operation of the Delta Conveyance Project Incidental Take Permit No. 2081-2024- 018-00 (ITP)

Construction and Operation of the Delta Conveyance Project Incidental Take Permit No. 2081-2024- 018-00 (ITP)

The Project includes construction, maintenance, and operation of a conveyance facility to divert water from the Sacramento River in the north Delta and move it to south Delta pumping plants. The Project includes the construction of new facilities and, once those facilities become operational, operations and maintenance. The Project will construct two new intake facilities as new points of diversion for the State Water Project in the north Delta along the Sacramento River. The water will be conveyed via a single tunnel that terminates at the Bethany Complex. The Bethany Complex is south of CCF and includes a surge basin, pumping plant, and aqueduct that conveys flows to a new discharge structure on the shore of Bethany Reservoir. Intake components include cylindrical tee fish screens, intake structures, sedimentation basins, sediment drying lagoons, flow control structures, tunnel inlet, and other inlet structures. The tunnel from the intakes to the Bethany Complex will have an inside diameter of 36 feet and outside diameter of 39 feet and extend approximately 45 miles from the intakes to the surge basin at the Bethany Reservoir Pumping Plant. The Twin Cities double launch shaft will be used to bore one tunnel north to the intake shafts and one south to the Terminous Tract reception shaft. Lower Roberts Island will have a double launch shaft, that will allow one tunnel boring machine (TBM) to bore north to the Terminous Tract reception shaft and one to bore south toward the final reception shaft at the Bethany Reservoir Surge Basin. New shaft pads will be constructed of soil excavated from either the shaft site or nearby shaft sites. The Project’s tunnel segments, TBM machinery, other soil materials, and equipment will be delivered to all sites by road. Rail will also be used to deliver tunnel segments to the Lower Roberts Island tunnel launch shaft site. The double launch shaft at Lower Roberts Island will require a shaft site to accommodate a double launch shaft with a figure eight configuration, reusable tunnel material (RTM) storage area, and corresponding access roads. The RTM site will also house a rail-served materials depot. Rail access to Lower Roberts Island will be provided from existing Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) or Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) tracks located on the Port of Stockton. Rail lines will be extended from one of the existing rail facilities in the Port of Stockton. Rail access will be extended over a new bridge over Burns Cutoff and continue to the tunnel segment storage area near RTM storage area. The Project also includes construction of interconnection facilities for CCWD. The facilities will consist of an interconnection pump station and a new 1.6-mile conveyance pipeline. The interconnection pipeline will be installed in a trench with open cut-and-cover construction along existing roadways and within agricultural fields. The portion of the interconnection pipeline that crosses Victoria Canal will be microtunneled. Launch and retrieval pits, approximately 35 feet wide by 50 feet long, will be placed within the 100-foot open trench construction easement on Union Island and Victoria Island to launch and receive microtunneling equipment. Air valves, blow offs, and access manways will be placed along the pipeline within the permanent easement. Following construction, the Project as permitted by CDFW includes two years of operations and maintenance. Operations consist of initial testing of facilities, pump maintenance, and systemwide commissioning tests to confirm if facilities and equipment function as expected and make repairs or adjustments as needed. Following initial testing of facilities and equipment the Project may conduct full operations consistent with the Conditions of Approval in the ITP. The discretionary approval by CDFW is the issuance of the ITP identified above. The construction, operation, and maintenance of the Delta Conveyance Project as approved by the lead agency is expected to result in incidental take and impacts to habitat of California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense), Giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas), Swainson’s hawk (Buteo swainsoni), Tricolored blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), Crotch bumble bee (Bombus crotchii), Mason’s lilaeopsis (Lilaeopsis masonii), Delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus), Longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), Winter-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Spring-run Chinook salmon of the Sacramento River (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus). California tiger salamander, Giant garter snake, Swainson’s hawk, Tricolored blackbird, Longfin smelt, and Springrun Chinook salmon are designated as threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act. Delta smelt and Winter-run Chinook salmon are designated as endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). Mason’s lilaeopsis is designated as rare under the California Native Plant Protection Act. The California Fish and Game Commission designated Crotch bumble bee as a candidate species under CESA on June 12, 2019, and reinstated the listing on September 30, 2022. The California Fish and Game Commission designated White sturgeon as a candidate species under CESA on June 19, 2024.The ITP referenced above as issued by CDFW authorizes incidental take of California tiger salamander, Giant garter snake, Swainson’s hawk, Tricolored blackbird, Crotch bumble bee, Mason’s lilaeopsis, Delta smelt, Longfin smelt, Winter-run Chinook salmon, spring-run Chinook salmon of the Sacramento River, and White sturgeon that may occur as a result of construction, operation, and maintenance of the Delta Conveyance Project, as is more specifically described in the ITP.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Yolo

Countywide