A $300-million aqueduct expansion to bring more...

A $300-million aqueduct expansion to bring more Northern California water south was put on hold for at least a month by the Metropolitan Water District while questions of the aqueduct’s safety during earthquakes are examined in greater detail. The general manager of MWD wants to enlarge a major aqueduct in the Antelope Valley to bring in an extra 300,000 acre feet of water from the Sacramento Delta to which the MWD has rights, but its facilities are too small to transport it. Up to a third of the additional water would be used in San Diego County. MWD directors forced a delay Monday in voting on the recommendation by asking whether a major earthquake along the San Andreas Fault, which crosses the aqueduct, would cause a massive disruption to supplies.