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Blog commentary: California water – A battle for hearts and minds

Posted by: Maven on February 13, 2010 at 8:08 am

From InfoSpigot: The Chronicles (a blog), a post regarding the recent story in the Sacramento Bee about the tunnel option for a possible peripheral canal. Noting that although the peripheral canal was shot down by voters soundly in a 1982 ballot proposition, the idea is gaining ground, even garnering the (cautious) support of environmental groups. Why is this?, the post asks:

” … I think it comes down to the widespread recognition that the tortuous method of channeling water from the Sacramento River into the Delta and then into the aqueducts is broken and is a prime suspect in the collapse of the Central Valley’s once-magnificent chinook salmon runs and other environmental problems. The thinking is that if you straighten out the plumbing, you take care of the major hazards to the fish and to the Delta ecosystem.

Once you have the new canal or tunnel, all you have to do is manage the water flowing through it to the benefit of everyone involved.

And that’s the problem. To believe a canal will fix an environmental disaster, one must believe that the demand for new water and the machinations to get it by any means possible will suddenly just evaporate. Letting high river flows sweep through the Delta and out to sea–part of what’s necessary to aid salmon migrate to the Pacific–is condemned as a waste by those who want to put that water to work in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. That belief just won’t disappear overnight. … “

Continue reading this post at Infospigot: The Chronicles by clicking here.

February 13, 2010 · Filed Under Delta Issues

Comments

One Response to “Blog commentary: California water – A battle for hearts and minds”

  1. Infospigot on February 13th, 2010 3:03 pm

    Blog Maven, thanks for including this post. I’ve long admired your work and wonder how the heck you keep up with all the stuff you manage to follow.

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