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Ron...agree re Shasta...same with Oroville. One wet year doesn't end a drought. That's why I said its the small to medium sized dam that can be raised. That includes Friant, Pine Flat, Kaweah and Success down here (all obviously south of the Delta). Auburn should've been built decades ago to serve the needs of the Sacramento region, especially to help dilute its urban runoff. That amount of water damn near equals what is sent to LA, which gets the vast majority of its water from the Owens Valley and the Colorado.
Sacramento and the Delta are the problems right now, and has created the blockage. It's not just the pumps taking out the salmon's dinner (smelt), but increased salination of the Delta and the increased pollution coming from the Sacramento-Stockton area's outdated system (though Stockton has done a good job modernizing theirs).
I represent many growers in the Delta...wine growers in Lodi to asparagus farmers on various islands. They will tell you it's not so much the quantity of water but the lack of quality which is killing the Delta, on a much larger scale than Kesterson.
The peripheral canal was designed to be part of the state and federal water systems from the get go...just like drains from the Westside were supposed to be built to take runoff to the Bay. Half built system has resulted in a half assed result.
Unfortunately, too many folks have little understanding of the water situation and can speak only from a lack of information. When you live or die with water, like the folks around Redding or down here where crops are grown, it's frustrating to have to allow folks with no experience or knowledge have some say in the equation by uttering knee-jerk soundbites.
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Jamo
Last edited by Jamo; 04-10-2010 at 10:00 PM..
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