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Alaskan
dumps water bag proposal Plan to export Gualala, Albion water
to Southern California drew heat on North Coast "It doesn't make sense for us to invest and develop the river resources," Ric Davidge said from his office in Anchorage. In a letter Friday to the state Water Resources Control Board, Davidge said he will not pursue the project because of insufficient scientific data on the rivers and the burden of conducting studies that would "have cost an estimated $1 million for each river." Davidge's decision came as the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously against the project at its meeting in San Francisco, saying the proposal would severely affect marine wildlife. North Coast opponents of the water export plan were jubilant. "Friday the 13th is our lucky day," said Ursula Jones of Friends of the Gualala River. Under the company name Alaska Water Exports, Davidge had applied to the state water board for permission to capture 14,000 acre-feet of winter and spring runoff each year from the two rivers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Water would flow into ineam cisterns and then be piped out to sea to fill fiberpoly bags, each the length of three football fields. Tugboats would tow the bags to customers in San Diego. The tide of opposition continued to rise at Friday's Coastal Commission meeting. Commission Chairman Mike Reilly, who also is a Sonoma County supervisor, cited a letter from the city of San Diego saying the city doesn't support the project. "It's important for us to know that our neighbors to the south are behind us on this international corporation coming in and making a proposal ... that poses a threat to these two remote, rural rivers," Reilly said. Alaska Water Export is associated with Luxembourg-based Water World SA, a global consortium of investors from countries including Japan, Greece and Saudi Arabia. Davidge said he had talked with San Diego about his water sales plan for several years and has letters and e-mail from the city to prove the city's interest in his project. He argued that his proposal would have had less environmental impact than alternative water supply methods, such as desalination. His plan had encountered strong protests since it was proposed in June 2001. The boards of supervisors from Sonoma and Mendocino counties took positions against the project. "When you tear up a river, there will be environmental impact," said Jim Jordan, a Sea Ranch resident and a member of Friends of the Gualala River. "Mr. Davidge indicated that there will be no impact whatsoever, and that flies in the face of reality," Jordan said after speaking against the project at the Coastal Commission meeting. Gov. Gray Davis in September signed a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, that required a five-year study on the impact reduced river flows would have on fish habitat before the state could act on Davidge's proposal. Davidge said he has no plans to propose similar projects in California. But he vowed to not give up. He said his company is in negotiations with several municipal districts in the Pacific Northwest to purchase surplus water. Davidge
said the growing public resentment toward his project contributed
to his decision to quit. But the primary obstacle to his proposal was the amount of required research and its cost. "It is our hope that the human energy, creativity and fiscal resources excited by our two applications will now be positively redirected toward the development and publication of watershed management plans for these two rivers," he said in his letter. Myrlys Stockdale, a spokeswoman for the water board, declined to comment on Davidge's letter. You
can reach Staff Writer Ucilia Wang at 462-6473 or uwang@pressdemocrat.com.
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