![]() ![]() Bureau of Reclamation finished building the canal in 1942, but the pipeline to San Diego never materialized, largely because of local infighting.ĭuring World War II, the Navy significantly expanded its footprint in San Diego. Department of the Interior in 1933 to build a connection to the All-American Canal. The city of San Diego even signed a contract with the U.S. San Diego has long eyed a connection to the Colorado River through Imperial Valley. Appointed by former Mayor Jerry Sanders in 2012, Madaffer is one of 10 on the board representing the city of San Diego. However, Madaffer and his supporters were able to push through further study of the pipeline with a razor-thin margin because of the board’s weighted vote, which gives greater leverage to those representing bigger cities. Twenty of the board’s 36 members voted in November to nix the project based largely on financial concerns. “To do that kind of tunneling and environmental damage and not acquire one extra drop of water, duplicating a pipe that already brings it to us, is bizarre in my mind.” “We just feel the pipeline would cost an outrageous amount compared with continuing our relationship with Metropolitan,” said Christy Guerin with the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, who until recently served on the water authority board. Many of the San Diego region’s most senior water managers have repeatedly raised concerns that the project could drive up rates in the short term and wouldn’t pencil out for many decades to come, if at all. The proposed conveyance system has also drawn vocal opposition from a majority of those serving on the water authority’s board, which represents the wholesaler’s two-dozen member agencies. “We would use everything within our arsenal including legal remedies to stop this. “The environmental destruction that would happen to the backcountry, to the parks, the mountains, it’s ludicrous,” said Matt O’Malley, executive director and managing attorney for San Diego Coastkeeper. They have vowed to block the massive, decade-long construction project, arguing it would needlessly generate new greenhouse-gas emissions, threaten endangered species such as big horned sheep and rip up pristine wilderness landscapes. The idea of building a new pipeline to Imperial Valley just to bypass MWD has enraged environmental groups. It’s that simple,” said Jim Madaffer, who as a board member of the San Diego County Water Authority has worked tirelessly over the last two years to advance the venture. “If there’s a way to bring water to our region cheaper and more efficient, we owe it to our ratepayers to do our due diligence. Those pushing the project argue that MWD has long overcharged San Diego for delivering water, including supplies the region has purchased from IID. The new pipeline would connect San Diego directly to the Imperial Irrigation District, or IID, and its All-American Canal outside of El Centro. The region has long received most of its water through a series of pipes and canals to the north via the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, or MWD. Proponents of the modestly named Regional Conveyance System say the project has the potential to save ratepayers billions of dollars by the end of the century. ![]()
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