California: Newsom Administration launches Delta Conveyance Project accountability plan, includes $200 million in funding and support for Delta communities
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Aug 6, 2025

Newsom Administration launches Delta Conveyance Project accountability plan, includes $200 million in funding and support for Delta communities

What you need to know: Governor Newsom and the California Department of Water Resources announced a series of actions that will ensure accountability and transparency for potentially impacted communities during construction of the Delta Conveyance Project, a critical piece of the state's water and climate adaptation strategy.

SACRAMENTO – The Newsom Administration is committed to supporting local communities that could be impacted during construction of the Delta Conveyance Project. To acknowledge and address those impacts, today the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released an Accountability Action Plan which memorializes a series of actions that holds DWR accountable to the local community in a transparent, trackable and measurable way. In addition to targeted and strategic communication and support, the plan establishes a $200 million Community Benefits Program for areas near the construction sites.

The goal of the plan is to avoid, minimize, or offset potential impacts of project construction to residents, businesses, tribes, visitors to the Delta, and many others. The plan was developed, in part, to address concerns expressed in various community and public input forums during the planning process.

DWR's commitment to accountability and transparency shows that this project is ready to take the next steps and the Newsom Administration continues to call on the Legislature to act on the budget trailer bill to fast-track the Delta Conveyance Project.

"Critics of the Delta Conveyance Project, including those in the Legislature, have repeatedly made false claims that the concerns of the communities in the Delta are not being heard. This Accountability Action Plan shows that my administration is listening, and we are taking action to hold ourselves accountable and respond to community concerns during the construction of this important infrastructure project."

Governor Gavin Newsom

The Delta Conveyance Project is the most consequential water infrastructure project in recent California history, and will help ensure that the state can continue to provide water for people, businesses, and farmland throughout the state. The Delta Conveyance Project will upgrade the State Water Project, enabling California's water managers to capture and move more water during high-flow atmospheric rivers to better endure dry seasons. The tunnel, a modernization of the infrastructure system that delivers water to millions of people, would improve California's ability to take advantage of intense periods of rain and excess flows in the Sacramento River.

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The process to begin construction of the current Delta Conveyance Project began in 2019 when Governor Newsom withdrew the previous "Water Fix" twin tunnels project and began a new environmental process to study a single-tunnel proposal. As in previous iterations of Delta conveyance, requirements for environmental analysis, public review and comment under CEQA and other permitting processes were completed,  including extensive public outreach and more than 7,000 comments and responses.

DWR's Accountability Action Plan follows best practices for how to ensure the local community can productively communicate with project representatives and monitor community commitments throughout the construction process.

With public transparency being its most important tenet, the plan seeks to facilitate awareness of the numerous available programs and commitments made and aims to foster assurance and trust among interested parties that DWR's intent is comprehensive, earnest and binding.

Protecting Delta communities

The Delta Conveyance Accountability Action Plan has five key components:

Ombudsman Office: The Ombudsman Office will provide for a single point of contact to help ensure that construction-related concerns or grievances are efficiently and fairly addressed and project transparency is sustained.

Regulatory Mitigation: The Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program and other regulatory processes identify measures, commitments and best practices intended to avoid, minimize or offset potential environmental impacts within the project area.

Community Benefits Program: The Community Benefits Program—with a dedicated $200 million fund—will seek to deliver tangible, lasting and measurable benefits to communities nearest to, and most affected by, project construction activities.

Community Advisory Groups: One or more community advisory groups will engage community members in decision-making related to various items.

Project Communications: Information, Outreach, Engagement: A transparent, accessible, and proactive communication strategy will keep local communities informed about the project's progress, impacts, schedule, and available resources, fostering trust and engagement through timely updates, community feedback channels, and clear, inclusive messaging.

What's at stake

The Delta Conveyance Project would create much-needed and long-overdue improvements to the State Water Project, which provides water for 27 million people and 750,00 acres of farmland. It would allow the State Water Project to better capture high flows during storm events and move that water to where it's needed in the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, Bay Area, and Central Coast. It would also protect against earthquake risk.

The Governor will continue working to quickly advance these improvements to ensure that California is ready for a drier and hotter future, and its communities are safe and protected.

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