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ACWA issues press release for dams; Sierra Club tells why they oppose more dams

Posted by: Maven on October 5, 2007 at 8:32 am

From the ACWA website:

The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) today urged lawmakers to approve a comprehensive water bond package to improve water conveyance in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, expand statewide water storage capacity and invest in conservation and other strategies. The package is currently contained in legislation introduced by Sen. Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) and Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine).

ACWA Executive Director Timothy Quinn joined proponents of a comprehensive package at a Capitol news conference and called on legislators to move forward with a bipartisan bill that will meet the needs of the environment and the economy.

“There has never been a more urgent time to invest in our water future,” Quinn said. “Our water system is in crisis, and that crisis will not end when it rains. The ecological and economic consequences of inaction are staggering, and they will only worsen until something is done.”

To read the full text of the ACWA’s press release, click here.

From the California Progress Report, an article written by Sierra Club president Jim Metropulos about why dams are not the answer:

The Governor’s Water Bond Proposal focuses on expensive water projects for big farms and to accommodate big growth in the Central Valley. Sierra Club California urges the Governor to focus state money on programs for water conservation, water recycling, and the cleanup of underground water basins. We also believe that the state must have a completed long-term strategy for protecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta before making major investments there or for new dams upstream of the Delta.

New dams are not needed. Water conservation and recycling can easily meet our future water needs at a fraction of the cost. The 2005 California Water Plan by the Department of Water Resources states that four million acre feet of water could be saved by additional water efficiency and recycling programs.

New dams and large reservoirs are wasteful. California’s major reservoirs loose 500,000 acre-feet of water in a year from evaporation (about the same amount of water produced by the Governor’s new dams).

Dams are not a solution to global warming. Experts agree that our existing comprehensive system of dams can be operated to adjust for global warming. Large reservoirs created by new dams will produce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

Why should the taxpayers pay for these dams? Not one water agency in California has offered to pay even a small share of the multi-billion dollar cost to build these dams.

To read the full text of this article posted on the California Progress Report, click here.

October 5, 2007 · Filed Under Delta Issues, Legislation - State & Federal

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