Overview

The Inland Feeder project is a high-capacity water delivery system designed to increase Southern California's water supply reliability in the face of future weather pattern uncertainties, while minimizing the impact on the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta environment in northern California. The massive water project will take advantage of large volumes of water when available from northern California, depositing it in surface storage reservoirs, such as Diamond Valley Lake, and local groundwater basins for use during dry periods and emergencies. The project also will improve the quality of the Southland's drinking water by allowing more uniform blending of better quality water from the state project with Colorado River supplies, which have a higher mineral content.

Project In Brief

Cost: $1.2 billion

Estimated Completion Date: 2007

Length: Nearly 44 miles of large-diameter pipelines and tunnels, stretching from the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains to the Colorado River Aqueduct in the Riverside County community of San Jacinto

Benefits

• Increases water supply reliability in the face of future weather pattern uncertainties
  
• More than doubles Metropolitan's water delivery capacity from the east branch of the State Water Project
  
• Improves the quality of the Southland's drinking water
  
• Minimizes impact on Bay/Delta environment
  
• Helps replenish local groundwater basins

Water Source

• East branch of the California State Water Project from Lake Silverwood

Environmental Mitigation

• Added more than 75 acres to existing holdings of California
• Department of Fish and Game as part of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area
  
• More than 800 acres in Day Canyon and City Creek areas in the San Bernardino Mountains