State Funds Kaweah Water Project
Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District got some good news recently.The state funded around half of a $6 million project along the Kaweah River near Woodlake to build a a 1500 acre/ft reservoir at Hannah Ranch, the former rock quarry – that can divert Kaweah and Friant Kern canal water on to a 380 acre parcel owned by KDWCD.”We will be able to gravity feed storm water off of the system and re-release it at a better time protecting down stream property during wet periods and using the water for trades or recharge further down stream” for example, says Mark Larsen, General Manager of KDWCD. The district has some 5000 acres of sinking basins to help recharge our aquifer.
Water Bond Debate On Tap
Tulare County Water Commission – advisory to the Board of Supervisors – will grapple July 8 with a recommended position on the latest version of a state water bond that does not include water storage but is heavy on conservation and Delta repair. The latest version appears to have some support from the Brown administration.
“There would not be a $5.6 billion dollar agriculture industry in Tulare County if it weren’t for one natural resource – water”says Allen Ishida, commission chair and member of the BOS.”It would be foolish to strip funding away from water storage” Ishida wrote recently.
But civil engineer Dennis Keller, a commission member says not so fast. Improving the Delta could protect Friant Water Users who bring in 1 million acre/of water into Tulare County annually. Keller wants to be cautious before judging a final version of the bond.Parties have been trying the scale the bond down to below $10 billion.
But ag interests are not happy that Governor Brown’s representatives seem to favor a water bond without new dams. Brown, himself, has remained silent.
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