pardee reservoir

Pardee Reservoir in the Sierras is the heart of East Bay Municipal Utility District (affectionally known as East Bay MUD)'s drinking water supply. It is also a "recreation area" where families can enjoy fishing, boating, and camping, according to the Pardee Recreation Area website. Now EBMUD wants to enlarge the reservoir so as to better serve its customers. No, EBMUD is not thinking of providing more recreation or better fishing. It is thinking of the growing suburbs in the East Bay, with their overly thirsty water-wasting families.

EBMUD, with its token environmental stance -the recreation area is closed during migratory bird season for example- is going to flood and destroy a unique landscape, drain the Mokelumne river, destroy its fisheries, all so its customers in the affluent East Bay suburbs along highway 24 and 680 can water their lawns, wash their cars, and flush their toilets with pure drinking water. ( in case you wondered if I forgot to mention drinking, note that the upscale suburbanites in the East Bay drink bottled water)

EBMUD is considering how the area will grow over the next 20-30 years. That is if we don't run out of food by then or get hit by some other disaster of our own doing. It is no doubt rejoicing the fact that California gave the go-ahead to add a fourth bore to the Caldecott tunnel. Ostentatiously there to reduce traffic jams that aren't caused by the the tunnel itself, the fourth bore will no doubt stimulate further development along the "680 corridor." More people will move into the near-desert area east of the Oakland hills and start watering and flushing as if they lived in Hawaii.

At a time when many agencies are considering removing dam sites and restoring the enormous environmental damage some of these sites have brought on, EBMUD is taking a leadership position by proposing to build a new and larger dam for Pardee. It will add 40+ feet of water to its present reservoir and drain the river to create an eyesore out of what is now one of the more scenic and attractive riverscapes in the state.

In the eyes of EBMUD however, none of that beauty can match the elaborately manicured, over-watered, and over-fertilized lawns of Lafayette and Danville.

GO EBMUD!