For Immediate Release: March 14, 2017
Contact:
Brian Smith, 415-320-9384, [email protected]
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, 209-479-2053, [email protected]
Restore the Delta releases California’s Sustainable Water Plan
Stockton, CA – Today, Restore the Delta released a survey of water projects and proposals that improve California’s regional water sustainability and provide good paying jobs. California’s Sustainable Water Plan highlights projects in communities statewide that are far smarter investments than Jerry Brown’s controversial and expensive Delta Tunnels (CA WaterFix) proposal.
“The Oroville Spillway crisis this winter was a loud warning siren. The evacuation of 180,000 Californians for two days has brought into sharp focus the need to invest in California’s water infrastructure,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “Rather than building out Jerry Brown’s massively expensive Delta Tunnels to serve large corporate farms, we should invest in projects that create good jobs and water sustainability in communities statewide.”
Federal agencies now considering permits for the Delta Tunnel remain unconvinced the proposal can meet clean water standards to protect the San Francisco Bay-Delta, the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. The permitting review process continues at the State Water Resources Control Board.
Meanwhile, last week the American Society of Civil Engineers put needed repairs to California’s water infrastructure at more than $50 billion.
The cost-effective solutions outlined in the California Sustainable Water Plan help address California’s emerging water needs while protecting the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary in the process. These projects improve urban and agricultural water conservation, reuse and recycle water, and capture and store local rainwater.
The expensive and ecologically suspect Delta Tunnels would starve California cities, counties, and local water agencies of resources that could fund local and regional water projects that deliver a far bigger bang for the buck and deliver long-term jobs for each region of the state.
Read California’s Sustainable Water Plan.
How about putting water back into the aquifers for water storage instead of building more dams? We need to replace the water down there as it is being pumped out faster than it can be replaced. I am sure the engineering to do this would be much easier than building a dam.
Joanne, If you read through the report you will find that groundwater recharge is part of the many projects. We need to recharge groundwater basins to stop subsidence in many parts of California. The caveat is that we can’t just take out what we put back in or the aquifer actually collapses. But if we do a good job capturing stormwater, runoff, flood flows, & using recycled water, we can start to abate subsidence and create some additional water supply.