🚀 go-pugleaf

A dam has been proposed for the Carmel River, made famous in John
Steinbeck's book "Cannery Row".  The Monterey Peninsula Water Management
District (MPWMD) has the permits in hand to build the New Los Padres Dam,
a 24,000 acre-foot dam that will inundate the present, small Los Padres
Dam and much of the Cachagua Valley.  The dam will be 274 feet high and
nearly a quarter mile wide.  The only thing standing in the way is Measure
C on the November ballot, which, if approved by voters in the District,
will allow MPWMD to begin the steps necessary to finance and build the dam
through public bonds financed by increased water rates.  Voters have been
under the impression that it they vote no in this election that a dam will
not be built.  Now, however, they are being told that the permits can be
transferred to either Cal-Am water corporation or else to a partnership
between the water district and Cal-Am to build the dam without public
financing but rather as a commercial venture.

The Carmel River once ran year-round and a healthy steelhead run existed. 
Now, it generally goes dry in the summer and fall due to all the pumping
from the underflow, for agricultural uses, three 18 hole golf courses in
the valley, and for domestic use on the Monterey Peninsula (the latter by
the Cal-Am water company).  Cal-Am has been advised by the State Water
Resources Control Board (SWRCB) in June 1995 that they are illegally
pumping in excess of 10,000 acre-feet per year from the river's underflow.
 Cal-Am is looking to the dam to make up this water.  The voluminous EIS
for this project, written before this decision was made, cites the
benefits of their dam to the river, the fish, and to further development
in the region but rejects reasonable alternatives to meet water needs. 
Based on the SWRCB decision, the California Attorney General has filed a
petition for reconsideration of the dam permit on behalf of the California
Department of Fish and Game, who believes that these changes will not
allow the environmental benefits stated in the EIS.

Opponents of the dam, including the Sierra Club, believe that
alternatives, such as conservation, water re-use, de-silting of the two
existing dams on the Carmel Valley (presently siltation has reduced them
to less than half their original capacity), and desalination can solve the
area's water problems.  Moreover, the dam will cause significant
environmental harm, including inundation of wilderness area, loss of
Esalen Indian archeological sites, and further development that will soon
outstrip the added capacity this dam will provide.  The dam is a bad idea
with outmoded technology.

For further information, contact Citizens for Alternative Water Solutions,
P.O. Box 1426, Carmel Valley, Calif. 93924  (408) 659-8108.