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Dams controversy drags on

Posted by: Maven on October 3, 2009 at 7:07 am

From the Hanford Sentinel:

“Ask thirsty Kings County farmers the number one thing they’d like to see happen in Sacramento, and chances are good you’ll get the same answer: “Build new dams.”

If there’s one thing that unites Kings County’s diverse agricultural sector, it’s the overwhelming desire to see new water storage somewhere in the state to ease the pressure on a system that is being pushed to the breaking point by the effects of drought and environmental issues in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

But the same unity can’t be said of the lawmakers in the state capital. Few issues have so consistently divided the Democratic majority from the Republican minority as the seemingly eternal battle between conservation vs. new dams.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s vow to veto any water package that doesn’t include new money for dams has only drawn the dividing line more clearly.

Depending on who you talk to, the current crisis could either produce a historic compromise that includes a couple of new dams or it could fizzle into another demonstration of lawmakers’ inability to craft a bipartisan water deal. …”

Read more from the Hanford Sentinel by clicking here.

October 3, 2009 · Filed Under Storage and supply

Comments

One Response to “Dams controversy drags on”

  1. WaterSource/WaterBank on October 4th, 2009 4:43 am

    Time to be DAM simple ??

    Like everything else, maybe its time to RENT …

    CA could simply RENT the available AIR SPACE in half full Lake Mead ( 28.5 million acre feet) and lease a million acre feet of non-tributary fresh water from the new Source to FILL the air space.

    The Bureau of Reclamation could keep the increase in hydroelectric RENEWABLE ENERGY power which is 2000 megawatts and $2 billion in income as a rent payment for the air space.

    The Southern Nevada Water Authority ( Las Vegas) could lease the water they need rather than spend $4-5 Billion on their scheme to dewater the desert AND eliminate the giant sucking sound ( $1 Billion) from their short intake pipe stuck into Lake Mead.

    JOBS would be created and there would be NO DAMAGE to the environment and NO DAMAGE to existing water rights.

    Why BUY and BUILD when California & Nevada can simply RENT available air space behind an existing DAM … DAM that’s SIMPLE … isn’t it ?

    WaterSource/WaterBank waterrdw@yahoo.com Retired Water Rights Analyst

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