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Inland Feeder Project is

The Inland Feeder Project The Inland Feeder Project (IFP) encompassed the construction of 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, in the vicinity of the Cities of San Jacinto and Hemet, California. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) developed the project in order to “improve water quality and reliability for Southern Californians.” [1] Specifically, the high-capacity water delivery system was designed to increase Southern California's water supply reliability in the face of future weather pattern uncertainties, particularly drought, while minimizing the impact on the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta which is the source of the water conveyed through the Inland Feeder. (MWD, 2007). [2] Fed by water from Lake Silverwood in San Bernardino County, water moves by gravity though the IFP from the San Bernardino Mountains to San Jacinto, where it will connect to an existing pipeline that feeds into Diamond Valley Lake, a massive man-made reservoir (MWD, 2007). Normally, rainfall flows through the Sacramento Delta and ultimately drains into the Pacific Ocean. Without adequate storage capacity and conveyance systems, the excess supply generated when it rains in Northern California cannot be captured for use. [3] As part of the State Water Project [hyperlink to wiki entry on SWP],, the massive IFP takes advantage of the large volumes of water available from northern California that results from winter snowpack runoff into rivers out of the western Sierra Nevada Mountain Range that forms the backbone of California. (MWD, 2007) [4] The conveyed water is deposited in surface storage reservoirs, such as Diamond Valley Lake [hyperlink to wiki entry on DVL], and local groundwater basins for use during dry periods and emergencies. The project is also designed to improve the quality of Southern California’s drinking water by allowing more uniform blending of better quality water from the State Water Project with Colorado River [hyperlink to wiki link on Col R] supplies, which have a higher mineral content. (MWD, 2007) The Metropolitan Water District has projected the project to cost approximately $1.2 billion, with an estimated completion date of 2007. [5] The IFP terminates at Diamond Valley Lake, a reservoir constructed southwest of the city of Hemet, California. In addition to many miles of pipeline, the IFP includes three large tunnel sections in Southern California: Easternmost in the IFP, the Arrowhead East Tunnel Project includes 1,500 linear feet of 12-foot diameter welded steel pipe installed in a trench connected to a 30,000-foot tunnel through the San Bernardino Mountains. The tunnel lies upto 2,000 feet below ground in some locations. [6] This tunnel is linked into the California Aqueduct, which conveys water from Northern California as part of the State Water Project. (citation needed) The Arrowhead West Tunnel involved the construction of 12-foot wide tunnel 21,175 feet long connected with 6,630 feet of buried pipeline. The tunnel generally runs along Old Waterman Canyon Road and State Highway 18 in San Bernardino County, California. [7] Seismic faults crossed by the tunnel include the Arrowhead Springs Fault, near the North Branch of the San Andreas Fault. At nearly 8 miles ( __ kilometers) long, the Riverside Badlands Tunnel is the longest tunnel segment in the system. The tunnel has a finished diameter of 12-feet also includes 1,500 feet of pipeline of similar diameter. [8] The average tunnel depth is between 200-300 feet, although part of the tunnel reaches 500 feet. The tunnel crosses several fault zones and also runs below the area’s groundwater table. Constructed between Redlands and Moreno Valley, California, and completed in 2003 at a cost of $119 million, the 4.8-meter diameter tunnel bored through hard rock using a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) [hyperlink to wiki entry on TBM] [9] Geological issues such as fault zones and water table depths ended up adding to the length of time needed for construction, as did several natural disasters. In 2003, the Old Fire caused damage to construction site, which was further damaged by subsequent flooding in late 2003. Legal issues over water rights and also geotechnical issues arising from traversing earthquake fault zones also added to the delays. (Bowles, Jennifer. “Tunnel Adding Key Link to MWD’s Inland Feeder Water Project.” Press-Enterprise, Aug. 20, 2008</ref> [10] According to the Metropolitan Water District, around 2002 a “bolt and gasket system similar to that used on the Chunnel [hyperlink to wiki entry on Chunnel] that connects England to France” was employed to reinforce concrete tunnel segments where water was leaking into the site. Delays notwithstanding, on August 17, 2008, the tunnel-boring process was completed with much fanfare. [11] Completion of the tunnel infrastructure and the rest of the IFP is slated for late 2010.

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