danger will robinson danger, long posting ahead :) Congress focuses on dams amid Californias drought By Kevin Freking, Associated Press Californias drought has sparked a new push by federal lawmakers to create or expand a handful of reservoirs around the state, ... Government agencies have been studying five major water storage projects for nearly two decades, with nothing to show for the effort so far. ... California has had its third relatively dry winter in a row and court rulings have mandated that more water be released from reservoirs to sustain fish species in Northern Californias delta ... This winter is among the driest on record, forcing some communities to ration water and leading farmers to fallow thousands of acres that otherwise would be producing vegetables, fruits and nuts for the nation. ... Bills proposed in Congress would authorize a number of projects to expand or create reservoirs. Among the projects are raising the dam at Shasta Lake to store more water in Californias largest reservoir, creating a new reservoir in the Sierra Nevada along the upper San Joaquin River east of Fresno and damming a valley north of Sacramento. Other storage options include expanding the dams at the San Luis Reservoir in the central part of the state and at Los Vaqueros Reservoir in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. ... Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said those who oppose new or expanded dams are hoping that doing so will deter growth and development, but its a losing battle. ... Feinstein acknowledges that conservation also is critical to meeting the states water needs but said some new or expanded reservoirs must be allowed so more water can be captured during wet years and stored for use during the dry ones. ... No doubt there will be opposition. The $1 billion proposal to raise the dam at Shasta, for example, would flood part of the McCloud River, one of the most picturesque rivers in the state. It also would inundate several sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu, a small tribe that is not federally recognized. ... Costa rejected the sentiment that conservation and recycling should be relied upon instead. He said the drought is so severe that every tool is needed. ... end of story cut to the chase - create dams to store flood times for use when dry happens. glee nice idea but what happens when you have far more dry then flood? dam up rivers, so to get to the level needed for sustaining will take how long? some history here - How long did it take the hoover dam to fill? Im wondering, after they closed the diversion tunnels, how long did it take the hoover dam to fill to capacity? It took about a year for Lake Meade , the reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam to fill to the average depth of 1173 Ft. - that is from yahoo answers and that is from the 40s so a for robust river to fill that lake. and according to wiki answers they say 6 years so go from 1 to 6 years. now take into account with a growing population and need to grow produce, how patient are people going to be? next is there have been studies for decades and i would wager from none to about none had anything to do with railing in excess from around the country when they get floods or too much snow, etc. since i am not some smart person that has a phd or masters or bachelors or associates or some trade certificate then i would wager that this concept is doa to these studies. next is at what point did the concerns of other elements of nature and other elements of humanity all the sudden become expendable? oh i am sure that the wild life in that area are already buying there floating chairs so they can enjoy the good life floating on the new lake (whenever it actually fills). next is recycle / conserve which is noteworthy but again if there are more dry then flood then can not conserve what you do not have. as capt jack sparrow so artfully said If I may lend a machete to your intellectual thicket. time is not on californias side and neither is the weather so as i have said before rail in via water tighted hopper cars flood water and excess snow which for one can be gotten easy from cities that get snow since they are on raillines and already have means to put said snow into hoppers. as for flood, there are large water pumps be it either one or more then one chained to get said flood water from not going over flood walls to water tightened hoppers. next is desalination plants, already doing some but since there is more water then dry land and water is only getting deeper then why not make that water usefull.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 21:56:57 +0000
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