California Aqueduct-San Luis Canal Project

Project Background and Purpose

Subsidence has caused reduced flow capacity in the California Aqueduct (Aqueduct) throughout the Central Valley, that limits the ability to deliver water to Southern California. DWR and Reclamation have undertaken several projects to regain lost flow capacity to design levels. 

Geotechnical Investigation

In order to support the design of the alternatives, DWR performed extensive geotechnical soils investigation of Pools 17, 18, 20, and 21 to gather information about the soil characteristics, such as soil strength or grain size, as well as the presence of groundwater, to evaluate the soil suitability.  The Project is described in detail in the final Initial Study/Environmental Assessment (IS/EA) posted in the Documents section of this page.

Soil sampling will occurred at up to 520 locations, of which 130 are located within DWR and Reclamation easements. Sampling work took over eight months between Fall 2021 and Summer 2022.

After the sampling was completed, soil samples were sent to the laboratory to test for soil moisture content, density, asbestos, heavy metals, pesticides, and acidity/basicity (pH).