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San Joaquin County Board of Supes passes another resolution against peripheral canal **added coverage**

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 14, 2008 at 6:47 am

From Stockton’s Record:

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors has drawn another line in the sand to the idea of building a canal that would convey water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The supervisors added a new resolution Tuesday to the growing list of formal stands they’ve taken against such a proposal.

But before they approved a comprehensive response to a state panel report on the future of the Delta, the supervisors threw down the gauntlet, challenging cities and other agencies in the San Joaquin County to pass similar resolutions. “We need to stand up and ask them to take a stand,” Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller said. “Get their support, or at least get them on record.”

The Delta Vision process has raised the possibility of a ‘dual-conveyance’ facility that would move water through and around the Delta. The San Joaquin County board has taken stands in the past against the peripheral canal, or any form thereof:

The supervisors’ resolution declares that a peripheral canal would impair water quality, harm the ecosystem and require loss of agricultural and, possibly, land for future urban development.

Water conveyance was not the only issue covered in the resolution. The four-page document weighs in on other points included in the November report from the task force. “They’re actually gone so far as to rename the Delta,” Lytle said. The Delta Vision report calls the estuary the “California Delta.”

But the canal drew the most ire from supervisors on Tuesday. “I don’t see any value to San Joaquin County in any peripheral canal,” Chairman Ken Vogel said. “Whatever you want to call it.”

Read the full text of the article from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.

The Lodi Sentinel takes a bit stronger attitude in it’s coverage:

Issuing a strong statement that San Joaquin County must protect itself against Delta water being exported to the south while acknowledging the water needs in Southern California, the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution Tuesday opposing a second attempt of a Peripheral Canal. “Right now, we’re in a huge tug-of-war between north and south,” Mel Lytle, the county’s water resource coordinator, told the Board of Supervisors.

The proposal was put on the table by the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, a group appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to advise on how to deal with California’s divergent water interests. It’s the second generation of the so-called Peripheral Canal, which was defeated by voters statewide in 1982. The proposal was to divert Delta waters to Southern California.

Lytle said that diverting water to urban areas in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, along with farms in Kern and other south San Joaquin Valley counties, would be detrimental locally.

Read the full text of this article from the Lodi Sentinel by clicking here.

May 14, 2008 · Filed Under Peripheral Canal

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