Our View: The Bee, Modesto go deep on water
If you weren’t at the water forum at the Gallo Center on Wednesday night, you didn’t hear Jeff Cowan’s spot-on statement about the value of groundwater and his explanation of how collaboration between the city of Modesto and Modesto Irrigation District to build a treatment plant have helped water levels beneath the city rise.
You didn’t hear the exchange between Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen and the state’s top water official, Felicia Marcus, about the role our rivers – the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Merced – play in the Delta. You missed the justifications provided by Randy Fiorini, chair of the Delta Stewardship Council, and water specialist Sarge Green for building the tunnels that Gov. Jerry Brown hopes will send much of the Sacramento River under the Delta directly to the pumps near Tracy.
There were comments about desalination, new dams, wells going dry and the double-bind farmers are in as groundwater is restricted and river water is redirected. We explored it all, and you can watch it all on the video posted on modbee.com.
Still, you didn’t miss everything. That’s because we couldn’t get to everything. The city of Modesto and The Bee invited five of the most informed people we could find to the Gallo Center to talk water. Then we asked Great Valley Center founder Carol Whiteside to guide the conversation. The problem with water is that there’s not enough of it, but too much to cover in two hours.
So we didn’t get to ask if it is reasonable to release 15 million gallons from a dam to facilitate one salmon. We didn’t hear about a judge’s decision to halt the state from shutting off water to Delta farmers; we didn’t ask about attaching conditions to well-drilling permits to protect nearby residents. Those questions were among the 150 submitted by readers before the event. They ranged from the highly technical to the highly controversial. Many wondered about the same things – desalination, more dams, cleaner water, fewer trees, fewer fish, how to share without ruining the rivers or ruining our lives.
Important questions, which is why we intend to continue this conversation. There is never just one answer to any question, so we will send many of them to at least two individuals and hope both respond. As they do, we will share their answers with you on our Opinion pages.
The city played a vital role in helping us bring this issue to a theater filled almost to capacity. The folks at the Gallo Center were capable, competent and confident – wonderful to work with. We look forward to doing this again, getting our community talking about the most important topics confronting all of us.
Let’s make a list
We can never resist (though we often wish we had) looking at various lists that include Modesto and surrounding communities. Two were published recently by WalletHub, which rates credit cards and hands out financial advice. The first was called “Wallet Wellness,” but we think they confused our location. Modesto is in California. But on the list of 150 cities, Modesto was tied for 57th with Henderson and North Las Vegas, Nev. The list judged cities on eight categories, including household income, commute time, housing prices and even the average credit score. All considered, 57th isn’t bad. But on the second list, “Best & Worst for Families,” Modesto fell to 112th. This list got more specific, ranking us 81st in education (our highest score), 107th for family activities and 116th (ouch!) for health and safety. If it’s any consolation, Fresno was 114th and Los Angeles 109th. But Bakersfield (huh?) was 45th and Fremont (seriously?) was seventh. The best place for families: Overland Park, Kan. If they run out of almonds, they should give us a call.
This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Our View: The Bee, Modesto go deep on water."