HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12021986 - X.17 �1
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
Adopted this Order on December 2 , 1986 by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Fanden, Schroder, McPeak, Torlakson, Powers
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
SUBJECT: Engineered Barrier Concept
Supervisor Tom Torlakson commented on a letter dated
November 19, 1986 from Robert D. Gromm, Delta Advisory Planning
Council (DAPC) , requesting the Board' s support of a study at the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ' Bay/Delta model of an engineered
barrier concept proposed by the Barrier Committee to Conserve
Water.
IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED that the aforesaid letter is
REFERRED to the Water Committee (Supervisors McPeak and Schroder) .
cc: Water Committee
County Administrator
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of
an action taken and entered on the minutes of the
Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: /'%"'^
PHIL BATCHELOP., Cierk of the Board
of Supervisors and County Administrator
By Deputy
r
lL( L rocQ a ��
Delta Advisory Planning Council
np from the desk of the chairman REPRESENTING THE
November 19, 1986 COUNTIES OF
CONTRA COSTA
SACRAMENTO
SAN JOAQUIN
SOLANO
Supervisor Tom Powers VOLO
Chair, Board of Supervisors
4101 Macdonald
Richmond, CA 94805
Dear Supervisor Powers:
At its November meeting, the Delta Advisory Planning Council (DAPC) voted
unanimously to encourage its member counties to urge Governor Deukmejian, the
State Legislature, and the Department of Water Resources to fund a study at
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Bay/Delta model of an engineered barrier
concept proposed by the Barrier Committee to Conserve Water.
This proposed barrier is not a type of• dam or fixed barrier that has been
found to be unacceptable in past studies, but is a relatively simple,
comparatively inexpensive barrier that is not expected to have a negative
impact on fish, wildlife, shipping, or Delta levees, and should conserve fresh
water, control salt water intrusion, enhance ground water quality, and allow
increased exporting of water from the Delta.
In a presentation by Robert Boyden, an engineer and member of the Barrier
Committee to Conserve Water, DAPC members learned first hand that the proposed
barrier to be located in the Carquinez Straits has been thoroughly engineered
during the last five years, is similar to but smaller than the Dutch barrier
successfully holding back the North Sea storms, and is accepted by
environmentalists. Since it restricts only about 50 percent of the fresh
water outflow to accomplish its objectives, there is no adverse impact on the
outflow's flushing action so vital to the San Francisco Bay estuary.
All of the above statements are backed by engineering, and a study of the
barrier at the Corps of Engineers' Sausalito Bay/Delta model will add
credibility and substantiate these claims, making the project viable for
funding and building.
Best of all , the cost of the project is firmly set at no more than $250
million, only a third of the estimated cost of the Peripheral Canal .
I hope my brevity will not dampen your enthusiasm for this project and DAPC's
request for your board's cooperation in asking the influential people and
agencies to have this new concept to conserve water and protect levees
studied.
Very truly yours,
Robe D. Gromm