For Immediate Release: Monday, January 5, 2015
Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; [email protected]; Twitter: @shopcraft; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 [email protected]; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta
Tunnel Critics Call Upon Gov. Brown:
Inaugurate a New Water Solution; BDCP is Doomed
Violates Clean Water Act, Makes No New Water, Dooms Salmon
Sacramento, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build water export Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms, salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today called on Gov. Brown to “inaugurate a new, sustainable water solution, and abandon the doomed BDCP tunnels, which violate the Clean Water Act, degrade Delta families’ drinking water, and threaten salmon extinction,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of RTD. “For $67 billion, Californians get no new water, lose our fisheries and spend generations paying to subsidize huge, unsustainable industrial agriculture on unsuitable, drainage impaired Westside San Joaquin Valley lands. That money would be better spent on alternatives that will make more water available to all Californians: recycling, storm water capture, conservation, groundwater cleanup and recharge etc. It’s time for a new, sustainable solution that makes new water, creates long-term jobs, promotes regional water independence and preserves fisheries and sustainable farms.”
The tunnels’ opponents called upon Gov. Brown to “abandon the doomed project” and instead embrace a sustainable water solution that is fair to all Californians. That solution includes reducing Delta water exports, strengthening Delta levees, and investing in regional water independence through sustainable programs. “Gov. Brown is offering us the same old worn out ideas regarding water management – taking too much water from one part of the state, causing great harm to communities and fisheries, to ‘fix’ the problems for big agriculture on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. The tunnels will provide water only for big agribusiness growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley who farm unsustainable crops like almonds for export. The recent BDCP redesign of the pumps means absolutely nothing. It still violates the Endangered Species and Clean Water Acts and dooms our fisheries,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.
Compare:
Gov. Brown’s Tunnels
Cost: $67 billion
New Water: None
Jobs: 10,000 short-term construction jobs, Destroys thousands of Delta farming, Destroys Pacific fisheries-related jobs
Who benefits? Mainly huge west San Joaquin growers
Sustainable Water Solution
Cost: $12 billion
New Water: 5-10 million acre feet
Jobs: Thousands of long-term jobs installing water-saving devices, replacing infrastructure
Who benefits? All Californians
Here is a new idea for providing a new source of clean water. Have you ever heard of Primary Water?
What is primary water and how is it different from other water sources? Primary Water (PW) is Earth-generated water. When conditions are right oxygen combines with hydrogen to make new water. This water is being pushed up under great pressure from deep within the Earth. It finds its way towards the surface of the Earth where there are fissures or faults. Depending on the geology, PW can be close to the surface, or even flow out as a spring. PW is new water that has never been a part of the hydrologic cycle until it finally arrives at the surface.
How can we access primary water if it is so deep? The origins of PW are deep, but because it is under great pressure it moves upwards where possible. If PW confronts a blocking geologic structure it will remain deep. If PW moves up into weak areas of the Earth’s crust, it continues moving upward until it is blocked or finds its way to the surface. These weaker areas are often associated with mountain ranges where faults are common.
Visit: http://www.primarywaterinstitute.org/qa.html