Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 21 sepTember
New fight in California water wars: How to update old system

By SCOTT SMITH and ELLEN nels, and their decade-
KNICKMEYER long construction, would
Associated Press have further harmed the
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — In delta and San Francisco
California’s long-raging Bay, destroyed their farms
water wars, pitting north and doomed many sleepy
against south and farm- Gold Rush-era towns.
er against city dweller, “Does this project end with
the one thing everybody that vote? I don’t know,”
agreed on Wednesday said Russell van Loben Sels,
was that the outdated speaking by cellphone
method of shipping water Wednesday from his vine-
throughout the most popu- yard where one of the gi-
lous state needs a serious ant water intakes for the
upgrade. tunnels would go. “There’ll
A group of influential Cali- be a lot of politics and a
fornia farmers shook up lot of arm-twisting and that
the debate a day earlier, kind of thing.”
backing out of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Natural Resources
Brown’s $16 billion plan to secretary, John Laird, said
build two massive water Wednesday that there’s
tunnels, re-engineering the In this Oct. 2, 2009 file photo, in California’s Westland Water District of the Central Valley, canals broad agreement water
delivery system. Westlands carry water to southern California. deliveries will keep de-
Water District in Fresno said Associated Press clining without upgraded
it was too expensive and Backers say the tunnels several large water districts rather than two, in what infrastructure.“While it’s too
came with too few guar- will stabilize flows, save to vote, pulling out after Lund called the “garden soon to speculate on po-
antees.Brown’s adminis- endangered fish species having spent millions over hose” option, or burrowing tential changes to the proj-
tration, however, gave no and ensure a reliable wa- more than a decade on one now with the option ect,” he said, “the state will
sign of giving up. Other key ter supply. However, critics drawing up plans and cal- for a second one later, if continue to consider how
water districts serving vast say it will be used to drain culating costs. it’s needed. best to meet the needs of
farmland in the most pro- Northern California dry and The shake-up forced a big The Sacramento-San Joa- the agencies” that want to
ductive agricultural state further harm native fish. moment for the players to quin River Delta is such a participate.
and millions of residents still It is California’s most am- take stock of the whole vital water source for Cali- U.S. Rep. John Garamen-
have to weigh in, including bitious water project in water system, said Jay fornia that somebody will di, a Democrat from the
the behemoth Metropoli- more than 50 years, when Lund, a leading state wa- always be advancing proj- delta, said it was a mat-
tan Water District of South- ter of time before central
ern California. California farmers, such
“I don’t think a ‘no’ vote is as those who are part of
the end of the story,” said Westlands, realized that
Metropolitan’s general high cost and uncertainty
manager, Jeffrey Kight- would crush the project.
linger. “We don’t live in a The Democratic governor
world where we can just had floated a similar plan
turn off the projects and during his first two terms as
walk away.” governor, aiming to build
Kightlinger sees a path to a canal around the delta
launch the project before to ship water south. Brown
Brown leaves office next could not let go of it, said
year. It’s impossible to pre- Garamendi, who seeks
dict what form it will take more water storage and
before all the water districts fortifying levees.
have voted on whether “It just takes a long time
they’re in or out. for bad, old ideas to final-
The proposed 35-mile-long ly die,” Garamendi said.
(56-kilometer-long) tunnels, “Hopefully we can move
however, can’t survive as onto cheaper, more effec-
it’s drawn up now without tive solutions.”
“big players,” such as West- A small group of protesters carrying signs that said “Water is a human right” and “Stop the water Another major supporter
tunnel tax” gather at Los Angeles City Hall on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017 to urge Mayor Eric Garcetti
lands, said Kightlinger, who and other local officials to come out against the planned Delta Tunnels. that has yet to vote, Kern
entertains the possibility of Associated Press County Water Agency,
a scaled-down project. called it a good project.
Current plans call for build- state and federal officials ter expert at the University ects, Lund said. “I do think if we don’t go
ing twin tunnels east of San launched a hard-fought of California, Davis. In Northern California, the ahead (with the tunnels),
Francisco to deliver water campaign to win support “It’s a strategic opportunity source of much of the California in 20 years will
from the Sacramento River for building the current sys- to make a strategic politi- state’s water, Westlands’ look back on this as a mis-
mostly to farms and cities tem of reservoirs, pumping cal decision,” he said. vote won cheers from take,” general manager
hundreds of miles away in stations and canals. Among the options are farmers who have fought Curtis Creel said.
central and Southern Cali- Westlands farmers on Tues- building a single tunnel to the project for years. ___Knickmeyer reported
fornia. day became the first of serve just municipal districts They contend the tun- from Sonoma.