Kiwanis learns about 'California WaterFix'

Jonathan Hall, served in two capacities at the Kiwanis meeting on March 7. As our President, he conducted the meeting, then stepped into his role as a member of Tehachapi's water board as our featured speaker. His program was about the current thinking on California's water transport issues, the "California WaterFix".

More than half of Southern California's water comes from the Sacramento/San Joaquin delta, through the California Aqueduct and the parallel federal Central Valley Project. To the surprise of nearly all the audience, we found that the Sacramento/San Joaquin rivers provide a higher volume of water than the mighty Colorado. The original plan for a two tunnel system has been discarded in favor of one 30 mile tunnel under the Sacramento delta. The water would be drawn from the Sacramento river, north of the delta. Water would flow under the delta and be pumped up to the intake of the aqueducts. The intake to the tunnel will be nearly one and a half miles long. The current flowing into the tunnel will be negligible, a marked environmental improvement over the present system. The intake will also have a huge silt pond, minimizing a major water transportation problem.

The Kiwanis Club of Tehachapi is an organization dedicated to serving the children of the world, one child at a time. The club meets every Wednesday noon at the Tehachapi Police Department Community Room, 220 W. C St. Guests and prospective members are always welcome. Please call (661) 822-5379 for further information. Check out our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/KiwanisTehachapi.