WATER WIZARDRY ON DONNER SUMMIT

Royal Gorge LLC has been resorting to almost supernatural lengths to conjure water up on the fabled  Donner Summit, a magical and yet paradoxical place with record snowfall, but, a few short months after the spring melt, hardly a spare drop of water to speak of beyond that which fills the shimmering local lakes.  Water is gravity's child, and its first inclination is to flow down- in snappy little rills and rivulets coursing down the granite, into streams, and then on to the rivers.  Some springs water lingers in magical and jewel-like fens, but, ultimately, what doesn't end up in one of the small Summit Lakes runnels down to the stunningly wild North Fork of the American River, and the smaller but equally beautiful South Yuba River.

The geology of the Summit wasn't conducive to the formation of productive aquifers, so what meager groundwater there is is usually sequestered in deep, silent fissures in the granite, and often only found by the modern water witchery used by hydrological consultants. Unfortunately, the water found is also often a witches brew of contaminants such as arsenic and manganese.

Wizards, at least the non-Hogwarts educated ones, were historically known for practicing magical tricks, turning base elements into gold, and generally being handy at a wide variety of "now you see it- now you don't" skills, guaranteed to bamboozle those who didn't watch them very closely.  Royal Gorge's water wizardry, about to be unveiled in a water report of noted legerdemain, promises to be a mystifying combination of base elements turned into, if not gold, consumable H2O, and water-shifting that merits a very,very close watch.

In this report, Royal Gorge will propose taking the water that flows over the dam into Serena Creek during snow melt (darkly neglecting to mention it keeps the trout alive in Serena Creek, and runs to the North Fork of the American River, whose water has both environmental, recreational, and kitchen tap filling value for many, many people downstream). They'll spirit this water up to special magical vessels (impoundments) they hope to bewitch state and local agencies into approving. As these impoundments will require massive clearcutting, and blasting away of granite, obliterating the plants and wildlife who dwell thereon, it will require powers akin to necromancy to convince decision makers that horrible, unmitigable environmental damage will not result.

Royal Gorge will also propose to supplement this water with water from various arcane wells, some of such a level of contamination that thaumaturgy (or at least very expensive and impractical processes) will be needed to render the water safe for household use. This slight of hand will be carried out, all the while hoping to mesmerize Serene Lakes  homeowners into ignoring the extended raised water levels (flooding private property) that will be required in order to sequester water in spring, the unavoidably lowered lake levels in the fall, and the unforeseen consequences of drawing down the water table, such as it is, by excess pumping of groundwater. 

And all this, "Double, double toil and trouble", to what end? Conjurer's tricks, with water that belongs to Serena Creek, the North Fork of the American River, and downstream users. DO NOT look deeply into Royal Gorge owners' and employees' eyes when they present this new report. Instead, look deeply into what it actually proposes to do, and think deeply about the wisdom of yet more tinkering with the Summit's hydrological system.