[env-trinity] Water Grab

[Deirdre Des Jardins]

The State and Federal Water Contractors are also proposing to oversee 
acquisition and restoration of 100,000 acres of land in the Delta 
through the "BDCP Implementation Board."

This may also be problematic, in that it does not involve any of the 
local counties in decisions about land acquisition and management.     
There have been continuing problems with management by LADWP of the 
200,000 acres of land it bought in the Owens Valley in the 1930s, 
deriving from ownership outside of the region.  (see below.)

The BDCP plan is also silent about what will happen with the water 
rights of the Delta farmland that is acquired for habitat 
restoration.    It would be in the best interests of the Delta if the 
water was kept in the area of origin.

Deirdre Des Jardins
California Water Research
http://www.h20research.com


April 5, 2013


      Where the Water Comes From: Owning -- And Owing -- the Owens
      Valley
      <http://www.kcet.org/news/the_back_forty/commentary/concrete-and-chaparral/where-the-water-comes-from-owning---and-owing---the-owens-valley.html>


"The DWP's prime purpose is to get as much water as they can from this 
valley," said Mary Roper, a resident of Independence. "It is not to 
protect the environment."

Roper, a retired Inyo County clerk-recorder, also sits on the board of 
theOwens Valley Committee <http://www.ovcweb.org/>, a nonprofit 
citizen's action group dedicated to the protection and awareness of the 
delicate valley ecosystem.

Nancy Masters, another concerned resident of Independence, describes the 
DWP as a colonizer, and has likened their relationship with the Owens 
Valley to the Germans occupying Vichy France in World War II.

"The Owens Valley is a resource colony," Masters said. "A government 
hundreds of miles away takes control through devious means of your land 
and water. They take the water...that sustains plants and animals in one 
of the most unique geographies in the United States."

Daniel Pritchett, a University of California research employee who lives 
in Bishop, in the valley's northern portion, added, "Owens Valley 
residents cannot vote in L.A. elections, hence we have no direct control 
over what happens to over 200,000 acres of the most valuable land in the 
valley."


Read the rest at
http://www.kcet.org/news/the_back_forty/commentary/concrete-and-chaparral/where-the-water-comes-from-owning---and-owing---the-owens-valley.html

On Monday/4/22/13 9:26 AM, Patrick Truman wrote:
> http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/22/5360484/delta-pipeline-pact-could-get.html
>
>
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