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<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Opinion:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Stuart Leavenworth: All of a
sudden, new dams don't look quite so
attractive<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Sacramento</SPAN></FONT></B></st1:place></st1:City><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">
Bee – 8/24/08<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></H1>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By Stuart
Leavenworth, staff writer<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><A href=""><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><IMG
id=_x0000_i1030 height=16
src="mhtml:mid://00000179/!cid:image001.jpg@01C906A7.0037C5D0" width=125
border=0></SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The Sierra snowpack is dismal. <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Oroville</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> is at one-third of its
capacity.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Over on the Colorado River, <st1:place w:st="on">Lake
Mead</st1:place> has dropped to its lowest level in four decades. The D-word –
drought – is on everyone's lips.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Given these circumstances, you might think that
<st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place> would be leading the fight
for new reservoirs. It's not. While Central Valley farmers and Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger are all clamoring for state-funded surface storage (that's water
community jargon for dams and reservoirs), <st1:place w:st="on">Southern
California</st1:place> has examined the price tag of these projects and said,
"Thanks, but no thanks." <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Largely unnoticed by the state's media, the Southland's
reservations about reservoirs are rocking the debate over water investments. In
the 1960s, powerful farm industries in the Central Valley teamed up with
Southern California to create <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Oroville</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> and other pieces of the State
Water Project. History has shown that, when these groups cooperate, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> can make water
to flow uphill toward money.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">But several converging trends are souring <st1:place
w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place>'s support for new dams, including
those pushed by the governor. Construction costs are skyrocketing, along with
prices of energy needed to move water south. Water stored in <st1:place
w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place> has to be shipped through the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, an increasingly undependable transit point for
exports.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Add these up, and surface storage becomes a risky,
expensive option, according to a draft report released this month by the Los
Angeles County Economic Development Corp.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">"From a <st1:place w:st="on">Southern
California</st1:place> perspective, dams in the northern part of the state have
to be considered unreliable," said the report, aptly entitled "Where will we get
the water?"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Prepared for <st1:place w:st="on">Southern
California</st1:place> business leaders, the LAEDC report is significant on
several fronts. For one, this is not the work of a think tank with an anti-dam
agenda. LAEDC is a group with wide respect in economic development circles. In
addition, it has taken a unique, comprehensive look at the Southland's current
water options, and the likely costs of those options over 30
years.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">According to the report, conservation would be the least
costly alternative, at $210 per acre-foot of treated water. Capturing storm
water would cost about $350 but wouldn't help during a drought; groundwater
storage would cost $580; and recycling about $1,000. Ocean desalination would
cost more than $1,000 per acre-foot, depending on energy
prices.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">By contrast, surface storage – including proposals such
as the Sites Reservoir in Northern California and the Temperance Flat dam near
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Fresno</st1:City></st1:place> – would
cost $760 to $1,400 per acre-foot. Most of these expenses would come from
shipping the water through or around the Delta, "a legally and environmentally
tortuous path," the report states.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Does this mean that <st1:City w:st="on">Los
Angeles</st1:City> is done financing water projects in <st1:place
w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place>? Don't bet on it. If <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State> were to approve a new peripheral canal,
<st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place> would likely provide
funding, and new storage projects would then become more
viable.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">But for now, diversification is the name of the game in
a region where 22 million people are dangerously dependent on water
imports.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">"The region needs to undertake an urgent program to
secure sufficient, reliable water supplies," the <st1:place w:st="on">Southern
California</st1:place> report states. "The solution will have to incorporate a
portfolio of water strategies, since no single strategy will provide a 'silver
bullet.' "#<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><A
href="">http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/1179131.html</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>