Hallmark served as program manager, under contract with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), to provide management for the planning and permitting, and organizational development in preparation for the construction of isolated conveyance and implementation of environmental mitigation projects in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers Delta. The project was intended to eliminate conflicts between efforts to convey California State Water Project and Central Valley Project water from the Sacramento River to export pumping facilities in the southern Delta and efforts to protect native aquatic species in the Delta. Over ten years Hallmark managed a melded team consisting of DWR and water agency staff, environmental consultants, and engineers. With a $250 million planning budget, Hallmark oversaw preliminary design, environmental review, permitting, and public outreach for the three 3,000 cubic feet per second intakes on the Sacramento River, fish screens, two forty-foot diameter 30-mile tunnels, and deep-shaft gravity-feed pumping plants.
Results: The effort required effective engagement with the DWR, the Bureau of Reclamation, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, numerous public water agencies, landowners, and Native American Tribes. Hallmark successfully managed the work required for DWR to issue a record of decision to proceed with one of, in not, the most complex water supply facilities improvement programs in United States history.
