Delta–Picture courtesy of the California Department of Water Resources
Water Fraud Update
By Bill Wells
The Santa Clara Valley Water District voted 4-3 to use $650 million of their ratepayer’s money to help fund the Brown / Laird twin tunnel WaterFraud. A joint powers authority, the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority has been created to oversee the final design and of the tunnels. I am sure nothing can go wrong with that. So far Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Kern County Water Authority, and Contra Costa Valley Water District have committed a total of about $12.5 billion of their ratepayer’s money leaving it about $42.5 billion short if you use Arnold Schwarzenegger’s $55 billion estimate of the cost of the project.
Governor Brown is quoted as saying: “the only time you get anything done with water is when a Brown is governor and there are no more Browns coming along so you better get it done. I can tell you if I wasn’t pushing this thing it wouldn’t be going anywhere. If it doesn’t make it this time forget it. You will all be dead before it is even thought of again.” I am confident this mother of all boondoggles can be stopped if enough good people stand up against it. The California Department of Water Resources has proven over and over again that they don’t understand and can not manage a project like this. The state Waterboard hearings are available on YouTube, when you have some spare time listen to the states attorneys’ presentations and draw your own conclusions. You will note too in unintentional irony that the states lead attorney Tripp Mizzel bears a resemblance to the Roman Polanski character in the film Chinatown.
