Tunneling nearly complete for Inland Empire water project

Even in the world of big-ticket water projects, where delays, cost overruns and controversy are frequent, the inelegantly named Inland Feeder Project was in a class of its own.

In its two decades, the project has faced fire, flood, regulatory disputes, difficult geology, grouting problems, earthquake considerations, a switch of contractors and more. At one point it was $100 million over budget.

The boss at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California jokes that the project suffered everything but a plague of locusts.

Still, the agency insisted it needed a higher-capacity system to bring water from Northern California to its massive reservoir, Diamond Valley Lake, outside Hemet.

A new project manager was brought in three years ago with a simple command: Failure is not an option.

And today, several years behind the original schedule, the $1.2-billion project will complete its last bit of tunneling: a four-mile stretch known as the Arrowhead West Tunnel in the San Bernardino Mountains.

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