Contract announced for canal connection project
| Thursday, Jul 29 2010 06:10 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jul 29 2010 06:10 PM
The federal Bureau of Reclamation announced Thursday the awarding of a $14.6 million contract to begin constructing a connection between the Delta-Mendota Canal and California Aqueduct up north, which local officials said will help deliver more water to struggling San Joaquin Valley farmers.
The project will most directly help farmers north of Kern County but any initiative that increases flexibility in the movement of federal and state water benefits us here, said Curtis Creel, water resources manager for the Kern County Water Agency.
"This is big news in Fresno County," Creel said.
The project involves construction of a new pipeline and pumping station near Tracy that will allow water to move between the two canals. The flexibility could mean another 35,000 acre feet of water per year coming south of the Delta, including to farmers in Kern County that rely on the aqueduct, according to the office of Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno.
"This project has been stuck in a bureaucratic backlog for six years," Costa, who has fought for the project, said in a news release. "Fighting through this delay is a victory for our entire region."
Construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed by early 2012, according to the Bureau.
The $14.6 million is coming from the federal stimulus bill signed in 2009.
