Nov. 18, 2009 - Unanimously opposing the Governor's $11.14 billion water bond, the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) Board of Directors urges voters to reject the water bond next November 2010.
"The Governor's water legislation marks the path to build the Peripheral Canal," said C-WIN President and Executive Director Carolee Krieger. "And the water bond he signed will soak all Californians for the impacts from the Peripheral Canal. It will kill the Delta's present ecosystems.
"And Southern California water ratepayers will foot most of agribusiness's and the Metropolitan Water District's construction bill. We urge your ‘no' vote on the bond," she said.
Building the Peripheral Canal-- which would be bigger than the Panama Canal -- could cost $53 billion, over $1 billion per mile. "With 14 million California taxpayers," said Jim Edmondson, C-WIN's Treasurer, and himself a Mono Lake activist in the victory over Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s, "that's nearly $4,000 per taxpayer in California! It's bad business and offends common sense."
About 80 percent of the canal's water would irrigate selenium-poisoned land in the western San Joaquin Valley at the same time it would take water away from productive Delta soils. Instead, retiring those poisoned lands would free water up to serve the equivalent of two million California households.
The bond contains $2.25 billion for Delta restoration and $1.785 billion for watershed funding in the rest of California. These pork projects bought support of legislators previously opposing the bond.
"Make no mistake, this is an Astroturf water bond for agribusiness and MWD under the guise of providing environmental restoration," said Joan Hartmann, C-WIN Board member and a long-time southern California watershed activist, adding, "Californians want real water solutions for all Californians, not just to benefit the Governor's political cronies," said Hartmann.
The Governor's water bond, if passed, would strip Delta water rights under state laws enacted after Los Angeles stole Owens Valley's water supply a century ago. Without such protections, Delta water will get saltier, making the quest for a Peripheral Canal self-fulfilling.
"The Governor and his friends' Delta water grab would set a terrible, frightening precedent for all parts of California with abundant streams and rivers," warned Krieger. "If they can do it to the Delta with all its natural wealth, they'll come for your water someday. "
