Peripheral Canal....Redux

[Darian]

WOW!!!! I really missed this one. An article appeared in the Lodi News in October reporting that some portion of the water to be pumped from the Freeport Pumping Station (under construction just south of Sacramento) will be used to recharge groundwater basins in San Joaquin County. The volume of water for this purpose is, apparently, not yet established but the pumps are capable of pumping a volume of approximately 185 million gallons, daily. Of course that volume will be divided between Sacramento, Nestle's Water Bottling Co., and East Bay municipalities as well as San Joaquin County.

This will be accomplished by routing the water through the pipeline (also, under construction) built for EBMUD to connect to the Folsom South Canal, then down to the Camanche Pumping Station and through an existing canal system to San Joaquin County....

SOoooo,.... I guess I'm confused. Tell me again; why do we need a peripheral canal

[Scott V]

We don't need a peripheral canal. southern California does.

[trinity]

Why doesn't southern california invest in desalination? Why doesn't northern california insist on it? It seems like a no brainer to me. I know its expensive, but it has to be worth it!

[Scott V]

Why doesn't southern california invest in desalination? Why doesn't northern california insist on it? It seems like a no brainer to me. I know its expensive, but it has to be worth it!

Especially since they say the polar caps are melting which in turn will raise the ocean levels. So something will need to be done with all that extra water or soon some inland citys will have ocean front property.

[Darian]

Actually,.... Several DeSal projects have been proposed and/or undertaken and are operational in SoCal. There're, also, several (3) DeSal projects on the books for the Bay Area. Problems with funding, the permit process and objections by nay sayers are being experienced by contractors.

To get an idea what the opposition is really like, check out:

www.desalresponse.org

While I think these people are not entirely correct in their opposition, they do raise some interesting points about problems with DeSal. The opposition seems to think that with current methods (conservation, blah, blah....) we can do without DeSal. IMHO, it's unrealistic to think that DeSal shouldn't be a strategic option for dealing with water availability in this state. A lot of this stuff was the subject of some of my prior posts in this Forum.

[nightgoat]

To get an idea what the opposition is really like, check out:

www.desalresponse.org

That link seems to be dead...

Try this one...

www.desalresponsegroup.org

[Darian]

Good catch.... Thanks for the correction.

[trinity]

The problems of desal listed on that link seem small compared to the real problems our existing water projects have already created. Desal water doesn't even neccassarily have to be used for drinking water. Why not use it for irrigation? I just don't get why it's not discussed more?

[Darian]

I think you might've missed this one. DeSal is actively being discussed/considered/proposed by a number of public entities throughout the central/southern part of the state and there're a small number of DeSal plants currently in production in SoCal. Some of them are for a specific purpose. Such as, recharge of groundwater, etc. Problems for projects under consideration occur in the permitting process when the project potentially impacts the environment. Sometimes the objections are "....small...." as you've pointed out. That's why I referred everyone to the DeSal Response Group website. We need to know what opponents of these projects are thinking.

Sometimes the concerns expressed are not so small. For example, the intake pipelines are very large and the outcome of pumping large volumes of water required could be similar to that of the pumps in the Delta on fish and other sea life. Then there's the impact of concentrated salts dumped back into the ocean. There's a great potential for damage there. Of course, I don't believe that either of these obstacles are impossible to overcome but the cost of doing that will be massive....

The last concern is perhaps the most problematical. Development. There was a saying I saw somewhere in my research on this stuff that said, "....development happens where water flows...." That development could come in the form of agriculture, industry, commercial and/or residential developments. Just what we need, another strip mall....

Unless the people who set policy in this country, state, county and municipalities get there priorities straight, water will continue to flow under the current system as it has since gold rush times....