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The Department of Water Resources (DWR) released the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Delta Conveyance Project (i.e., the “Delta tunnel” or project) for public review and comment on July 27. The DEIR describes alternative ways to construct the tunnel; the alternatives’ environmental effects, including impacts on historic properties and other cultural resources; and measures to mitigate adverse effects. DWR has posted fact sheets and videos about the DEIR and the review process on the project website. The fact sheets and other information are also available in Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, Vietnamese, Khmer, and Tagalog. Copies of the DEIR can be found in libraries if you don’t have good access to internet.
The DEIR is important because it begins to create a factual record used in the project’s review. Comments can correct errors in DWR’s understanding of the project’s effects, suggest additional mitigation measures to reduce damage in the Delta, or express a preference among the project alternatives, including a “no project” alternative.
Your comments on the DEIR’s treatment of cultural and historic resources can make a difference. Delta people are experts about Delta history and its important cultural resources.
The Project’s Description
Plans for the project have changed since Governor Brown’s twin tunnels. Important changes from the previous project that may affect historic properties and cultural resources include:
- Two points of diversion from the Sacramento River, one north and one south of Hood, rather than three. The diversions are described in this DWR fact sheet on the intakes (PDF).
- Using primarily vibratory pile driving, rather than impact piles, reducing construction noise near the intakes.
- A preferred tunnel alignment extending southeast from the intakes to a major work site at the southeast corner of I-5’s Twin Cities Road offramp, and then extending southwest toward Bethany Reservoir near Mountain House. Shafts used to launch and retrieve drilling machines and maintain the tunnel after construction, as well as piles of excavated tunnel muck, will still be scattered along the route, but much of the construction traffic, noise, and congestion will shift away from the Sacramento River.
- Repurposing Bethany Reservoir to receive water diverted for export to users south of the Delta, rather than building a new forebay adjoining Clifton Court, avoiding the conversion of historic farmland on Byron Tract. This alternative and the associated tunnel alignment are described in this factsheet on the Bethany Reservoir alignment (PDF).
A more detailed description of the project, with maps, is in the DEIR Chapter 3 (PDF).
 Hood Supply Company Building, ca. 1927.
(Courtesy of the Hood Supply Company)
A Short Guide to Reviewing DEIR Chapters About Historic and Cultural Resources
The key DEIR sections describing impacts affecting historic and cultural resources are Chapter 19, Cultural Resources (PDF), and Appendix 19. Chapter 19, especially the analysis on pages 19-36 to 19-63, describes impacts to historic properties and proposed measures to mitigate this damage. Appendix 19 lists some of the historic properties in the project study area, including properties that may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places or other historic designations. These are typically properties over 50 years old that meet the criteria listed on Appendix 19, page 6.
Impacts that affect the setting of historic properties are also important. Some of these impacts to historic properties are described in the DEIR Chapter 18, Aesthetics and Visual Resources (PDF), especially pages 18-49 to 18-106. Chapter 24, Noise (PDF), especially pages 24-27 to 24-71, describes other important effects.
You may choose to review these entire sections or just focus on areas or topics of special interest to you. Your comments will have more value if you describe how you know about the resource. For example: “My family has lived in Courtland for three generations”, “I am a long-term member of the Sacramento River Delta Historical Society”, ”when we were kids, we used to explore an old labor camp on the island where we could find old coins and antique bottles”, or “I visit the Delta often to paint its scenic landscape.”
Here are some things to consider as you review and write comments on the DEIR:
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Residents and property owners. Should your building or community be described as a historic property in Appendix 19? Why? For example, Hood is among the sites not described, although the community was first settled in 1860 and played important roles in riverboat, railroad, and auto transportation and the Hispanic settlement of the Delta.
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Farmers. Has your farm operated for several generations? Does it produce crops, such as pears or potatoes, important in the Delta’s agricultural history? Do its buildings, including houses, barns, or labor camps, complement the farm’s historic character? For example, should the orchards and farm buildings around the historic homes along the Sacramento River be considered as part of this historic property, rather than just the home itself?
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Reclamation Districts. Did the reclamation of your district play an important role in the settlement of the Delta and the development of its agriculture? Are important historical figures associated with its reclamation? How do its levees and drainage systems reflect the improvement of reclamation practices and equipment over time? For example, Bacon Island is recognized as a historical district in Appendix 19, but other islands and tracts with equally rich histories and landscapes, such as Roberts or Union islands or tracts along the Mokelumne River are not.
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Historical societies and other historians. In addition to the types of properties mentioned above, what other sites important to your communities’ histories has the DEIR overlooked? For example, Appendix 19 includes the Sacramento River’s levees but overlooks other levees instrumental to the Delta’s reclamation, The Lincoln Highway is described, but not the Victory Highway, now SR 160, another of the nation’s first cross country highways. Also overlooked is the Sacramento River itself, the route of travelers to John Sutter’s colony at Sutter’s Fort, miners travelling to the Gold Rush, and 19th century riverboats.
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For civic groups, ethnic organizations, and native California Indians. Do the sites listed in Appendix 19 address the properties important to tribes or immigrant groups, including Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Sikh, Filipino, and Hispanic populations important to Delta history?
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Artists, photographers, and landscape architects. Do the views depicted in Chapter 18 capture the scenic resources you value, or should they also include vistas of the diversions as seen from the Sacramento River? Should these views be based on Images of vineyards and croplands in summer greenery, rather than photos taken after harvest in fall? How significantly will piles of tunnel muck left on Delta farms affect the landscape? Should uninterrupted views from scenic roadways towards Mount Diablo be protected? When appropriate, should mitigation landscaping emphasize typical farm country plantings of poplar windbreaks or the rows of olives, palms, or black walnuts that line country lanes, rather than only native plants? How could local people be better involved in developing landscaping plans?
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Hood residents. Less damaging noise is projected to affect Hood than was forecast for the twin tunnels, because vibratory pile drivers, rather than impact hammers, will be used to install pilings at the tunnel diversion works. The change in equipment will still create noise above accepted standards affecting 117 residences over more than 3.5 years. Very noisy impact hammers would still be used for 18 hours over the duration of the project.
To mitigate this impact, DWR proposes to offer to install for free new double-pane windows and doors and HVAC systems at businesses and at residences affected by excessive noise for more than three weeks. The double-pane windows are intended to deaden the sound. The new HVAC systems are intended to allow windows to remain closed during noisy periods. With these measures, DWR forecasts interior noise in affected homes would be reduced, approaching accepted standards. The full noise mitigation program is described in Chapter 24, Noise and Vibration, on pages 24-64 to 24-65.
How would this program be accepted by Hood businesses, residents, and homeowners? How would the quality of life in Hood be affected?
 Bing Kong Tong Building, ca. 1940.
The Bing Kong Tong represents a significant example of Chinese American architecture, as well as a tangible connection to the cultural heritage of Isleton.
(Courtesy of the California Preservation Foundation)
The Deadline for Comments on the DEIR is October 27
Addresses where comments should be sent as well as other useful advice about commenting on the DEIR are provided in this fact sheet from DWR (PDF).
What Else Can I Do to Help Protect the Delta’s Historical Resources from Damage if the Delta Conveyance Project is Approved?
The involvement of people who care about the Delta’s cultural and historic resources is key to protecting these assets. The DEIR is an early and important step in the review of the Delta tunnel. Please share this newsletter with others whose comments could help identify historical resources affected by the Delta tunnel or identify measures to avoid to reduce damage to historical resources.
More opportunities to comment and speak out will occur in the future. You can take a first step by sharing this newsletter with Delta historians, community groups, and others who are knowledgeable about Delta history and care about our region’s future. They can add themselves to this newsletter’s distribution list by signing up online.
For More Information
Read Volume #1 Protecting the Delta from DWR’s Proposed Tunnel with the National Historic Preservation Act and Volume #2 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Proposes Agreement on Program for Protecting Historic Properties.
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