Metropolitan to Host Media Availability Tuesday (April 10) Following Latest Board of Directors Vote on California WaterFix

Agency’s board of directors to consider financing either a staged
one-tunnel project or full, two-tunnel option

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Metropolitan Water District of Southern California:

WHAT: The Metropolitan Water District will host a media availability after
the district’s Board of Directors considers separate options for
financing California WaterFix.
Options include a staff recommendation for Metropolitan to fund its
$5.2 billion share of the project’s first stage, which would include
two intakes, a single tunnel and a capacity of 6,000 cubic feet of
water per second. Another option calls for Metropolitan to finance
up to $10.8 billion of California WaterFix, which would allow the
advancement of a full three-intake, two-tunnel project with a 9,000
cfs capacity.
WHEN:

Tuesday, April 10, immediately following the noon meeting of
Metropolitan’s Board of Directors. PLEASE NOTE: This briefing
is for credentialed news media members only.

WHERE: Conference Room 1-102, Metropolitan Water District headquarters, 700
N. Alameda St., adjacent to historic Union Station, downtown Los
Angeles (Board meeting is being held in nearby Board Room.)

BACKGROUND:

About 30 percent of the water that flows out of taps in Southern
California comes from Northern California via the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. But the Delta's delivery system is badly outdated, a problem
compounded both by a declining ecosystem and a 1,100-mile levee system
that is increasingly vulnerable.

California WaterFix would modernize the state’s decades-old delivery
system by building three new intakes in the northern Delta along with
two tunnels to carry water to the existing aqueduct system in the
southern Delta. Metropolitan’s board initially voted last October to
support California WaterFix.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a
state-established cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving
nearly 19 million people in six counties. The
district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California
to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased
water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management
programs.

Contacts

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Rebecca Kimitch,
(213) 217-6450; (202) 821-5253, cell
or
Bob Muir, (213)
217-6930; (213) 324-5213, cell