MEDIA ADVISORY for Tuesday, May 10, 2016, 12 noon
Contact: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, barbara@restorethedelta.org
10,000+ Californians Oppose Delta Islands Purchase
Letters to be presented at Met So Cal Water District board meeting
WHO: Restore the Delta Board Members
WHAT: Presenting more than 10K letters and making statements
WHERE: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Board Chambers
700 Alameda Street, Los Angeles CA 90012
WHEN: 12 Noon, May 10, 2016
(Public comments just after Quorum call.)
Watch letter submission via livestream here.
Former State Assemblymember and president of Restore the Delta, Joan Buchanan said, “The Delta Islands purchase is a $175 million boondoggle for MET customers. The water rights attached to the islands do not allow transfers to Southern California. That means MET customers will pay the entire cost of the Delta Island purchase, all future maintenance of the levees, and other maintenance expenses for the islands.”
Esperanza Vielma, of Café Coop, a nonprofit assisting young entrepreneurs in San Joaquin County said, “We ask that you look at the dissenting votes of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Monica — water districts that recognize that real water security for Southern California will be achieved through conservation, storm water capture, recycling, local infrastructure upgrades, and new water technologies that will put more water back into Southern California.”
Restore the Delta board member Larry Ruhstaller said, “Statewide, water investments should continue some of the great projects I have seen in Southern California that have dramatically cut the amount of water you need to import from so far away. Buying islands in the San Francisco Bay-Delta is not a good use of your ratepayer’s dollars.”
Background:
The proposed purchase of islands in the San Francisco Bay-Delta by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has been highly controversial. The troubled Delta Tunnels proposal has yet to receive any permits and may be delayed or cancelled. If it is, MET ratepayers will be responsible for hundreds of miles of levee maintenance for decades to come, an expensive stranded asset.