We have a nomination…

AND EVEN MORE: How ’bout the Peripheral Cavern, Peripheral Cave or Peripheral Bore (for those who’ve had enough of this story involving a giant drill)? Or the Eeew Tube? Thanks to all who have contributed ideas. I have left you nameless, for fear that should your suggestion stick, you be will forever associated with this project. I can see the plaque now…

UPDATE: A few more suggestions have come in: The Trans-Delta Pipeline, the Delta Bypass Artery, the California Water Project Tube, and another hybrid: The ”Dube”

After last week’s decision to focus study on a tunnel beneath the Delta — instead of a peripheral canal — I was wracking my brain to think of some clever nickname.

The “Peripheral Tunnel” is boring and arguably inaccurate. The “Subterranean Tunnel” is redundant. Some folks already call it the “Chunnel” in comparison to the train tube connecting England with France, but let’s face it, that name’s taken already.

How about a hybrid: The Punnel.

The name comes from county water resources coordinator Mel Lytle and his staff, who slapped together a slide comparing the dimensions of the Chunnel with the proposed Punnel. A printout was in the agenda packet for this week’s Advisory Water Commission meeting.

It’s hard to read the dimensions on the slide. On the left we see the Chunnel, which consists of two tubes 25 feet in diameter. On the right, the “Punnel” would consist of two tunnels 33 feet in diameter about 150 feet below ground, crossing the Delta in a straight line from Hood to Clifton Court Forebay. The 43-mile Punnel would not only be larger than its namesake Chunnel, but also longer, as we read below:

“We could use it (the Punnel) for transportation, if nothing else,” wisecracked an observer at Wednesday’s meeting. (One of the chief criticisms about a peripheral canal or punnel is that it won’t actually create any new water for California.)

Thanks to Dr. Lytle for the “Punnel” suggestion. Anyone else?