Published on Tuesday, August 19, 2008
By JENNIFER BOWLES
A circular rock-chewing machine will punch out of the San Bernardino Mountains today after nearly five years, leaving in its wake a four-mile-long tunnel that is the last major piece of a $1.2 billion water project designed to boost Southern California's supply.
The 19-foot-wide tunnel carved in the scrub-covered foothills above San Bernardino is part of a 44-mile system being built by the Metropolitan Water District. The project is known as the Inland Feeder, and most of its tunnels and pipelines that weave through San Bernardino and Riverside counties are already constructed.
Once completed in 2010, the Inland Feeder will triple the amount of Northern California water that can be transported to Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet -- a factor that will become more important as climate change affects the way drinking water is captured from the mountains.
