Keep up pressure to save Mokelumne River

These rapids at Middle Bar would be drowned if Pardee Dam is raised. Photo by Katherine Evatt

The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) is updating its long-term Water Supply Management Plan. The draft plan includes conservation and water recycling, but it also includes possible construction of a new dam on the Mokelumne River. That expansion of Pardee Reservoir could drown more than two miles of popular free-flowing river. The expansion would flood habitat for the California spotted owl, foothill yellow-legged frog, and goshawk, and damage potential restoration area for chinook salmon and steelhead. It would potentially harm water quality and habitat downstream along the river and in the Delta, and severely impact many local towns and businesses which have built local economies around the benefits of the stunning Mokelumne River resource. In sum, the dam expansion is clearly the most environmentally destructive element in EBMUD's water plan, and the most controversial.

At a workshop on Aug. 11, it was clear that public opposition is causing the EBMUD directors to think twice about the dam. EBMUD directors expressed widely divergent views on the Pardee expansion. Two directors, Board President Doug Linney of Alameda and Andy Katz of Berkeley, favored removing "New Pardee" from the plan. Other directors favored keeping the dam in the program for planning purposes. Some favored a lower dam that would flood less of the river.

Speaking against the dam at the workshop were representatives from Foothill Conservancy, Friends of the River, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, the Sierra Club, the Bureau of Land Management, and the rafting industry, as well as foothill residents, whitewater boaters, EBMUD ratepayers, and even one brave EBMUD employee.

Tim Robertson of the Mokelumne River Protection Alliance presented more than 400 hand-written letters from ratepayers who oppose the dam. Other speakers read letters from Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) and Assemblywoman Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills) and a resolution from the California Democratic Party.

No one spoke in favor of the dam.

Several directors also questioned the accuracy of the district's water-demand projections. Those projections were made before the recession and do not account for the water-saving habits EBMUD customers have acquired in the last two dry years. Lower demand projections would undercut arguments for expanding the dam.

With a greater focus on water conservation and recycling, EBMUD can reduce future demand and meet its water needs without a dam expansion. This would be a far less costly and controversial approach, and would be overwhelmingly the most beneficial from an environmental standpoint.

WhatYouCanDo

EBMUD's board is expected to make the final decision on the water program and related Environmental Impact Report on Oct. 13. Before then, write to your EBMUD director at:

East Bay Municipal Utility District
375 11th St.
Oakland, CA 94607-4240

Lesa McIntosh
Ward 1 - Crockett, Hercules, Richmond, Rodeo, Pinole, San Pablo
lmcintos@ebmud.com

John Coleman
Ward 2 - Alamo, Blackhawk, Danville, Diablo, Lafayette, Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, Walnut Creek
coleman@ebmud.com

Katy Foulkes
Ward 3 - El Sobrante, Moraga, Orinda, Piedmont, central Oakland
kfoulkes@ebmud.com

Andy Katz
Ward 4 - Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, Kensington, north Oakland
akatz@ebmud.com

Doug Linney
Ward 5 - Alameda, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, west Oakland, Oakland Airport area
dlinney@ebmud.com

Bill Patterson
Ward 6 - Oakland (East Oakland and south of Park Boulevard/Fifth Avenue to San Leandro boundary)
wpatters@ebmud.com

Frank Mellon
Ward 7 - Castro Valley, portions of San Leandro, Hayward, San Ramon
fmellon@ebmud.com

Support removing the Pardee expansion from the 2040 water plan and ask EBMUD to support federal designation of the Mokelumne as a wild and scenic river.

Send EBMUD an e-mail from the web site of Friends of the River or of Foothill Conservancy

To help out in the efforts to save the Mokelumne, contact or call (510) 848-0800, ext 312 or Tim Robertson at tim@savethemoke.com

Sign on to support wild-and-scenic designation yourself.

Your action today can help save the Mokelumne for generations to come.

Katherine K. Evatt, president, Foothill Conservancy