Shadow
07-25-2012, 10:52 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry
Brown and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday
unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan for two giant tunnels that would dramatically reconfigure
the state's water delivery
system.
The nearly $24 billion project aims to help
restore the habitat of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and improve the
reliability of water
supplies to the arid central and southern parts of the state.
The state already has two massive aqueducts
that move water from the north to the south, but the way in which the water is
transferred has severely damaged fish populations and degraded their habitat in
the delta.
The planned project is similar to one Brown
approved three decades ago when he was first governor. Voters rejected that
project amid vociferous opposition from northern California residents. A similar
political battle will be fought this time around.
"It's a long time in coming," the
74-year-old Democrat said, asserting that the project balances regional,
environmental and agricultural concerns that have long blocked efforts to expand
the state's water infrastructure.
The twin 35-mile tunnels would divert water
from the Sacramento
River just south of the state capital of Sacramento to the aqueduct
system. The tunnels would bypass the delta rather than drawing water directly
from it, reducing the number of fish killed by pumps and restoring natural water
flows.
The tunnels would reduce the risk of
environmental lawsuits that could interrupt water supplies, a critical concern
for California's
multibillion-dollar farming industry.
http://www.foxnews.com/
Brown and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday
unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan for two giant tunnels that would dramatically reconfigure
the state's water delivery
system.
The nearly $24 billion project aims to help
restore the habitat of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and improve the
reliability of water
supplies to the arid central and southern parts of the state.
The state already has two massive aqueducts
that move water from the north to the south, but the way in which the water is
transferred has severely damaged fish populations and degraded their habitat in
the delta.
The planned project is similar to one Brown
approved three decades ago when he was first governor. Voters rejected that
project amid vociferous opposition from northern California residents. A similar
political battle will be fought this time around.
"It's a long time in coming," the
74-year-old Democrat said, asserting that the project balances regional,
environmental and agricultural concerns that have long blocked efforts to expand
the state's water infrastructure.
The twin 35-mile tunnels would divert water
from the Sacramento
River just south of the state capital of Sacramento to the aqueduct
system. The tunnels would bypass the delta rather than drawing water directly
from it, reducing the number of fish killed by pumps and restoring natural water
flows.
The tunnels would reduce the risk of
environmental lawsuits that could interrupt water supplies, a critical concern
for California's
multibillion-dollar farming industry.
http://www.foxnews.com/