Through-Delta Conveyance

Staten Island Tip is the site of future speculative work by the Delta National Park design team.

The diagram shows the northern part of Alternative 3, which was once the preferred proposal of CALFED, a collaboration of 25 state and federal agencies with a mission to improve water supplies and the health of the Delta. Alternative 3 is also called the “through-Delta alternative,” and would make significant changes to the levee system along the Large Owner Axis.

Alternative 3 is a politically sophisticated version of the Peripheral Canal, a 1982 state proposition to divert Sacramento River water south, bypassing the Delta in the process. Alternative 3 reintroduces the idea of increasing diversions, but with greater attention to addressing environmental concerns. Recently, a new version of the Peripheral Canal has emerged as the favorite of many interests, and it remains to be seen whether the new version is politically viable.