This is a great project, cheap at the price and when we get cracking on capturing more of the water falling in our state as rain, which is increasing as the climate warms, there will be enough water for restoring rivers and water storage for controlling floods.
An excerpt.
San Joaquin restoration starts at $600 million
By Michael Doyle -- Bee Washington Bureau Published 12:01 am PDT Friday, July 21, 2006
WASHINGTON -- A plan to restore the San Joaquin River will cost at least $600 million and possibly much more, prompting sticker shock among some of the lawmakers who must find the money.
In a private Capitol Hill briefing Thursday, members of Congress started learning about what could become one of the nation's most ambitious environmental endeavors. It would end an 18-year-old lawsuit and return life to a river channel stripped bare long ago. It could also force California to cash in lots of political chits.
"If all goes well," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said Thursday, "I'd like to get it done this year."
The actual river restoration downstream from Friant Dam could be a lifetime's work. But to get it started, Congress soon will be asked to approve legislation authorizing myriad river-related projects. The pending legislation could be tricky to pull together, but it's an integral part of the lawsuit settlement now coming into focus.
Between $600 million and $700 million will be needed for the river restoration, lawmakers learned Thursday. Even those estimates may be low, and some outside analysts believe the real costs could reach $1.2 billion.
The money will pay for levees, streambed improvements and other work along the state's second-longest river. Ever since construction of Friant Dam in the 1940s, the San Joaquin has all but dried up in portions of western Fresno and Merced counties.
