VIDEO: Delta residents told to ready for water war

DISCOVERY BAY
March 2, 2010 12:03am

Residents of the Discovery Bay area of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta were warned Monday night that powerful, unnamed, forces from Southern California are waiting to spring a massive peripheral canal on them.

Such a canal would be bigger than the Panama Canal and would send fresh water around the Delta to pumps that would transfer it to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

Much of the Discovery Bay opposition keys in on what is dubbed the “Two Gates Project” that would construct dams in the Delta to divert the flow of water.

The project, which seemed to be on the fast track last fall, now seems stalled.

But leaders of the Save the San Francisco Bay and Delta Foundation say it’s merely a lull in a water war pitting Southern California interests against the landowners in the Delta.

“We’ve won some good battles, but we haven’t won the war yet,” says Mike Guzzardo, spokesman for the Save the San Francisco Bay and Delta Foundation. “It can change week by week. We just can’t let it go and assume we’ve won.”

Click on the play button to see an interview with Mr. Guzzardo taped at Monday night's SFBDF meeting in Discovery Bay:

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Comments on this story

Steve Bilson 3/2/10 12:46 PM
While the water wars rage, keep in mind that the So Cal water agencies have not obeyed any of the many water conservation laws, rules, and supposedly binding agreements that would create millions of acre feet of used water that is perfect for landscape irrigation. Over half of all the fresh water they use there goes to landscape irrigation. I moved my water recycling compnay down there almost two decades ago to help out and was and am constantly shocked and disgusted to see how far the So Cal water agencies will go to NOT reuse water. They'll spend tens of millions of dollars in court to keep anyone from making them reuse water. I'd have never believed it if I had not witnessed it so consistently for so long. As recipients of federal water, those So Cal water agencies are over-ripe for an attack on their waste of water under Section 417. You are probably familiar with that section, as that is what they use to attack farmers for supposedly wasting on-farm water. 417 cuts both ways.

JJackson 3/2/10 1:11 PM
How about the poor couple in SoCal that has reduced water consumption by 150,000 gals/year and is being sued by the City of Orange for not having adequate landscaping. Things need to change! Check it out at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bad-lawn2-2010mar02,0,3613612.story