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PermalinkMonday, July 30, 2012
Above: Rita Schmidt Sudman, executive director of The Water Education Foundation, and Tom Wornham, vice chairman of the San Diego County Water Authority.
A plan to bring water to San Diego - will it float?
Aired 7/30/12
GUESTS:
Rita Schmidt Sudman, Executive Director, The Water Education Foundation
Tom Wornham, Vice Chairman, San Diego County Water Authority, board of directors
Water Education Foundation
San Joqauin River Restoration -Where Does Southern California's WaterCome from?
Governor Jerry Brown last week endorsed plans for an underground water delivery network that he hopes will end the state's water wars.
The $14 billion plan involves a 37-mile twin-tunnel system to carry water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmlands and cities.
Rita Schmidt Sudman, executive director of The Water Education Foundation, said this proposal has been on the books for many years, but it used to call for a canal instead of a tunnel.
She said Brown has not weighed in on water issues before, "so it was interesting to see how forceful he was in support of this proposal."
Tom Wornham, vice chairman of the San Diego County Water Authority, said he does not anticipate San Diego will get more water from the plan, but he said it will make the water system more reliable.
So, he said, the San Diego County Water Authority is "pleased" with the governor's plan.
"Now it's an issue of right sizing, how much it will cost and who's going to pay for it," he said.
Schmidt Sudman said endangered species have trumped water plans in the past, but this plan's use of a tunnel is more environmentally friendly.
But, she said, "water will become more expensive, people will have to pay in the Southland for it."
Wornham said he does not yet know how much water costs could rise for San Diegans.
Claire Trageser contributed to this report.
Comments
ChrisGulick | August 1, 2012 at 3:07 p.m. ― 9 months, 3 weeks ago
"Now it's an issue of right sizing, how much it will cost and who's going to pay for it," Gee, let's not leave any important details for later.
80% of all developed water in California goes to agriculture.
4% of the water diverted south from the Delta crosses the Grapevine. Hello ?
Ratepayers and taxpayers all over the state are being asked to provide a massive ongoing subsidy to agriculture. Not all of agriculture equally.
The majority of the benefit a Peripheral Canal/Tunnel "might" provide will go to a select few landowners in the Central Valley led by a Billionaire (with a B) growing pomegranites and almonds (mostly for export) on marginal westside soils tainted with selenium that finds it's way back to the Delta compounding the problem.
When will ratepayers and taxpayers wake up and realize this is corporate welfare on a huge scale ?
Why is welfare somehow more acceptable when the beneficiaries are the wealthiest among us ?
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