Southern California water agency votes to keep funding state tunnel plans

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California water agency has approved key funding needed to push forward plans for a giant underground tunnel that would reroute a big part of the state’s water supply. The board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California voted Tuesday to allocate about $142 million for pre-construction and planning costs for the Delta Conveyance Project. State officials say the project is critical to help shore up water supplies due to aging infrastructure and climate-change induced shifts in precipitation. Critics say the project’s $20 billion price tag is too high and the tunnel will impact the fragile ecosystem in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.