Impacts of Building a Dam
Alternatives
Cal-Am misrepresents the cost of one dam alternative, desalination, in their mailer. Regardless of whether you believe we even need or want a desal plant, Cal-Am should put out true and complete information; such as the fact that the Public Utilities Commission's own "Ratepayer Representation Branch" recently researched the costs of desal and found it to be much lower than claimed by the Water Management District and Cal-Am in the Parsons Report. Again, this fact is part of the public record. Cal-Am's dam cost estimate of $107-$127 million is not substantiated. Where are the costs for the extensive "mitigations" such as the expected bull-dozing of the river channel as a result of the altered flows and sedimentation? Why aren't the costs of dismantling the project (as called for by the National Marinec Fisheries Service) included? Clearly, this does not tell the whole story when it comes to costs.
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Did you know there are many alternatives to building an environmentally destructive dam?
"Construction site where a forest once lived" © 1999 Kira Carrillo Corser
According to comments on statistics by the National Marine Fisheries, the Environmental Impact Report is "inaccurate and misleading".
What is a fair way to estimate costs for the alternatives to the dam?
"The Water District and Cal-Am have deliberately biased the alternatives analysis by including in each alternative package an expensive desal plant. Further, the costs of desal have overstated industry standards by at least 50% per our (CAWS and Sierra Club) desalination consultant.
Further, the costs of mitigations, monitoring, ancillary construction such as road and bridge work, have been left out of the dam cost estimate."
- John Brennen, Professional Engineer, (WA)
Carmel River Watershed CouncilWe, as Visual Voices artists, do not know all the answers to alternatives, this is what we as a community have asked the experts to study. We have listed some we are aware of, and know that more is being researched now.
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