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Letter: Addressing our water shortage

Coalition response…Looking for new water supplies is always a good idea. Studies are underway on several projects—Upper Temperance Flat on the San Joaquin River, Sites Reservoir in western Colusa County and raising Shasta Dam—that would increase the water supply for California. It is estimated that 120 desalination plants the size of the recently approved Poseidon facility in San Diego would be required to meet the 6 MAF requirements of the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. With 840 miles of California coastline, a desal plant would have to be placed every seven miles and would still not connect to our current water distribution system. Plans already under, such as the above and the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, would be much cheaper and more environmentally-friendly than lining our coastline with desal plants.