The Proposed Dam:
The Del Puerto Water District and Central California Irrigation District wants to build a 800 acre reservoir, and fill up the stream systems known as Del Puerto Canyon.
Proposed Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir
Photo from: https://www.delpuertocanyonreservoir.com/
Drone view of the proposed Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir
Why build a Dam at Del puerto canyon?
There are several reasons as to why building a dam at Del puerto canyon could be beneficial for local communities near Del Puerto canyon
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1. The reservoir would serve as water storage to support local agriculture as a majority of the local economy is dependent on revenue from agriculture. The proposed reservoir would be able to hold 82,000 acre-feet of water, which would help in maintaining fresh water for local towns and agriculture.
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2. The reservoir can help support wildlife refuges and fisheries south of the delta. The reservoir would help maintain Kern and San Luis National wildlife refuges along with smaller wildlife areas found in Los Banos, Mendota, North Grasslands and Volta through the control of floods from the del puerto canyon creek
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3.) The dam will help control the flooding of the Del Puerto creek enhancing flood safety in the delta and also improve groundwater management for all dependent communities in the valley.
Why not fill up the canyon?
The canyon is an important resource for our community. The canyon stream systems and supported wildlife is loved by students, cyclists, botanists, birders, and the community for general recreation. Stream systems like Del Puerto Canyon that are unaltered by human dams are rare to find in the central valley. The loss of this incredible habitat would be a great loss for Central Valley students, and residents.
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Students at our local colleges CSU Stanislaus, Modesto Junior College, as well as local high schools are able to perform scientific research on the stream systems and surrounding wildlife, and geology. This provides a close and accessible location for students in the valley.
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The dam would cause the citizens of the valley to lose so much valuable habitat for such a small reservoir. The dam would increase the sediment flow upstream from the dam which would negatively effect the stream, and riparian food web in areas not directly inundated (flooded) by the dam.
Student learning and performing research
Cyclists
Photo By: Anita Hollingsworth
Local Birders
Photo By: Stanislaus Audubon