An audit by the Interior Department’s inspector general says the government improperly spent $84 million to help plan the mammoth twin-tunnel project to ship water to Southern California from northern parts of the state, reported The Associated Press. The audit said the expenditures meant the Bureau of Reclamation paid for one-third of the cost of project planning through 2016, when California water districts were supposed to bear the costs.
An Interior spokeswoman told the AP that “we certainly hope” that contractors repay the money but the decision was up to California. The $16-billion project calls for 35-mile-long tunnels beneath the San Joaquin delta to draw water from the Sacramento River. Growers in the delta say it will divert irrigation water from their backyards to users in Southern California, including the agricultural Westlands Water District, which serves farmers in Fresno and Kings counties.
The general manager of the Westlands district told AP the payments were consistent with state and federal law. He said water districts are obliged to pay the costs only if the project is built.