Delta Tunnels Opponents to Senator Feinstein: “Here is a Better Water Resources Solution”, Accuse Senator of Listening Only to Industrial Mega-Growers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 19, 2014
Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; steve@hopcraft.com; Twitter: @shopcraft; @MrSandHillCrane; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla 209/479-2053 barbara@restorethedelta.org; Twitter: @RestoretheDelta

Delta Tunnels Opponents to Senator Feinstein:
“Here is a Better Water Resources Solution”,
Accuse Senator of Listening Only to Industrial Mega-Growers

STOCKTON, CA – Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Gov. Brown’s plan to build Peripheral Tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom sustainable farms and Pacific fisheries, today released “There’s a Better Solution” in response to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s claim that “environmentalists are no help” in solving California’s water resources challenges. Restore the Delta’s storyboard video describes what water efficiency would accomplish for the Delta and for meeting California’s water and jobs needs. RTD has long offered a sustainable water policy.

“Sen. Feinstein is carrying water in S 2198 for huge industrial mega-growers who have planted thousands of additional acres of almonds on dry lands in Westlands and Kern Water Districts in the midst of our three-year dry spell,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of RTD. “Sen. Feinstein’s response to this unsustainable overplanting of permanent crops on unsustainable lands without their own water supply is to strip sustainable farms and fisheries of protections so these huge growers can water their unwise plantings.”

“During times of drought, people think about big water projects as the solution because most people have seen large canals or dams that hold and convey water. We decided to create a storyboard that shows what water efficiency looks like with easy to understand facts so that people can learn why water efficiency is the better value for each dollar spent on water infrastructure. The water efficiency story will be turned into a feature video in the months ahead — and it will tell the story of how water efficiency throughout California is the solution for the Delta and the citizens of California.”

The video is here: http://youtu.be/Ml_pCr2uMaE