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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVandals destroy California dam; 49 million gallons of water lost
Source: KTVU
FREMONT, Calif. (KTVU) Authorities in the East Bay on Friday were investigating an act of vandalism at Alameda Creek that destroyed an inflatable dam, costing the Alameda County Water District nearly 50 million gallons of water.
Fremont Police believe the vandals entered a restricted area sometime Thursday morning and intentionally damaged an inflatable dam on Alameda Creek. The dam, which is instrumental to the district's water supply operations, suffered irreversible damage.
More than 150 acre-feet of water -- approximately 49 million gallons -- washed past the destroyed dam and into the San Francisco Bay. The water was to have been percolated into the Niles Cone Groundwater Basin for use by residents and businesses in Fremont, Newark, and Union City.
The amount of water is enough to supply the needs of approximately 500 homes for one year.
Read more: http://www.ktvu.com/story/29138248/49-million-gallons-of-water-lost-in-east-bay-vandalism-attack
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)oh, wait.
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)Oh wait - we need that rice to fulfill our Trade Agreement with Japan - so obviously it takes precedence over Working Americans and the Environment
Brother Buzz
(36,424 posts)Water right law in California is most particular; attorneys with expertise in water law are going to be demand for the foreseeable future.
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/board_info/water_rights_process.shtml
lpbk2713
(42,757 posts)Or a video monitoring system. They might think differently if there's a next time.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,614 posts)I literally flinched upon reading this.
I hope the perpetrators are caught.
BainsBane
(53,032 posts)Knowing the drought California is facing they did it intentionally?
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)petronius
(26,602 posts)I'm stuck between the Tantalus treatment, or drowning. Although a vigorous beating would be fine, too. Old West mythology tells us that horse thieves and cattle rustlers were hanged at the first opportunity; we may eventually reach a version of that for water thieves and wasters...
(Note: I am speaking from an emotional and semi-tongue-in-cheek place here, not in genuine advocacy of cruel, unusual, or capital punishment.)
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)Out of their own pocket, they must purchase a water truck. Drive said truck to an abundant fresh water source (are the Great Lakes fresh water?). Pick up a load of water and deliver it to the aquifer the original water source was intended to feed. And keep repeating until they make up all the lost water.
postulater
(5,075 posts)We will fight for our water.
Just because they are large doesn't mean the water is excess.
I drink that water.
TheMightyFavog
(13,770 posts)You want Great Lakes water?
MOVE HERE.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Many people from the Middle East, India, and Eastern Europe are smart enough to realize what many Americans are too dumb to understand. There is fresh water here.
So while 'Muricans are moving to drought-ridden areas to escape the cold and snow, the aforementioned groups are moving here en mass.
roamer65
(36,745 posts)We will fight it back here and win. If you want Great Lakes water, you will have to live here to get it.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Even if you're Captain Kirk..
romanic
(2,841 posts)And like all bodies of freshwater, it's not infinite.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)Last October, a peer reviewed article came out identifying a handful of "high priority" dams that needed to be removed or upgraded because they were threatening native fish species with extinction. The three of the five dams identifying as destroying highly diverse native habitat were the rubber dams on Alameda Creek. The county had already been under a lot of pressure from groups like the Alameda Creek Alliance who have been pushing to restore the natural creek flows (prior to the dams, the creek supported both steelhead trout and salmon runs). Since the report came out, the county has been coming under increasing pressure from the wider environmentalist community to do something about these dams.
To say that Bay Area environmentalists are "dedicated" is putting it mildly. It's entirely possible that one of them just got tired of waiting.
Or, it could have just been some arse who decided that it would be "fun" to cut the dam. Who knows
petronius
(26,602 posts)drmeow
(5,017 posts)Not the details but that it was for environmental reasons
shenmue
(38,506 posts)EL34x4
(2,003 posts)There's this cool invention I read about. It's called concrete.
TexasTowelie
(112,167 posts)That solves the mystery of where Tom Brady's ball boys have moved to.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)C Moon
(12,213 posts)They were running ads in the last big election suggesting Governor Brown was to blame for the drought.
That's politics, I guessand it will probably work, too.
To go to the extreme of breaking dams to win elections is obscene. But I don't put ANYTHING past the GOP.
I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of this now.
pa28
(6,145 posts)Holding their parents responsible would set a good example.
Lancero
(3,003 posts)mrmpa
(4,033 posts)greyl
(22,990 posts)Another matter of perspective.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)Hang them by their balls. They just made the drought in California significantly worse.