ROYAL GORGE LLC AND TINKERING WITH DAMS (OR TINKER'S DAM)

As July has sailed on into August, it has become increasingly obvious that Kirk Syme, and Todd and Mark Foster and their fleet of investors are not making leeway in their voyage to find a safe harbor, or even a small pond in which to float their boats. They've certainly not found enough water to supply up to 1000 units of hotels, houses, condos, and timeshares.

Their attorney, Randall Faccinto, recently told the Placer County Planning Commission that Royal Gorge LLC wouldn't be piping their Rainbow Lodge Springs water up to the Summit, which leads to several conclusions. Either they've procured water rights from some other entity, such as PG&E,  they've found a huge supply of water underground just begging to be tapped, or they're secure in their notion that they'll be able to hitch their dinghy to Sierra Lakes County Water District's water rights because, after all, doesn't a lot of water flow over the dam?

The answer to that is yes, and no.  A few months of the year 'wet', or actual water does, but quite a lot of that is appropriated, one way or another, by downstream users, including, but not limited to, PCWA,  and the San Juan District.  Many, many years ago the San Juan District proved itself to be very assertive in looking after its interests in water that originated in our watershed, and given the precarious state of water supplies recently, it would not be surprising if they, and others like them might not prove to be equally diligent in years to come.

What does this mean for Royal Gorge LLC?  Well, they're probably keeping their fingers crossed that downstream users aren't going to object to Serene Lakes suddenly holding back a lot more of the water that  those downstream users have come to rely on. Second, it means that, if Royal Gorge LLC can acquire that water, they have to figure out some place to put it, which leads to my least favorite topic, and probably Royal Gorge LLC's too-- brand-new dams and impoundments.

Royal Gorge LLC  has presented the creative idea of raising the dam on Lake Serena for several months of the year to increase water supply. This idea has not proven popular with many lakeside homeowners, the author included, because of the deleterious effects it could have on private property (some of which is already under water), and because it would harm the greenbelt, which is beautiful, and which also provides wildlife habitat and filters muck out of our drinking water.

This proposal to raise the dam on Lake Dulzura also shows Royal Gorge LLC and their water consultants are not students of history (and you know what they say about those-- they're condemned to repeat it), in that they're trying to reenact a failure that was tried many years ago, only to be shut down by the state water rights board/department of the safety of dams (DSOD).  In the 60's the dam on Dulzura had been 'McGivered' with some flashboards on the top to hold back more water, but the baffles were ordered removed because the dam wasn't designed to hold such a head of water. Since that jury-rigged experiment, many more houses have been built on the west side of the lake, and quite a few of those houses would find water lapping at their deck steps if a similar attempt to raise the dam on Dulzura was tried again.

Now, Royal Gorge LLC had also proposed building two lakes, West Lake for recreation, and East Lake for water storage.  The first concern for them should be DSOD, who may have serious concerns about the structural safety of these water storage facilities, particularly East Lake. There is also some question as to whether the area proposed for East Lake can even hold water, or would need lined. There are also unanswered questions as to whether the rock in the area is rife with toxic contaminants (think of our wells), whether SLCWD water rights would even extend to filling those new lakes, in regards to objections from down-stream users, and how Royal Gorge LLC, short of putting a heater in the water, could prevent East Lake from freezing as solid as does Serene Lakes in the winter.  Frozen water doesn't flow through pipes real easily, and the shallower the lake, the bigger the freeze----

It's uncertain whether Royal Gorge LLC ever intends to build those lakes anyway.  In their November plans they submitted to Placer County, they located West Lake where power lines would run through it, and possibly inundated part of the Emigrant Trail, a historical element that Placer County is determined to preserve. Further, in the build-out schedule they stated that building both lakes would be "Phase 2", which could be 5 years or so into their project, leading one to the notion that those lakes are nothing but "paper" lakes meant to look like they can hold water, but in fact will turn out to be one of those amenities the fine print on the developer's brochure tells you might never be built-- think of those lakes as you would the one-time much vaunted ski connection to Sugar Bowl-- considerably less than a twinkle in our particular developers' eyes.

So, unless Royal Gorge LLC possesses fathomless depths of groundwater, and can also convince SLCWD to bring on our contaminated emergency wells, which would leave us high and dry in an emergency, they're going to have to build a dam.

There are two places they'd most likely put a dam, each with its own drawbacks.  Van Norden Meadow, with its remnant of a dam comes to mind first.  Van Norden Dam was breached because of seismic danger, and even with new construction, there will remain, besides a element of seismic danger, danger to Soda Spring Road, our one egress. Further, the importance of Van Norden Meadow to the headwaters of the South Yuba River is now better understood. If that area were again inundated, besides the renewed flooding of historical areas, the South Yuba River would be impaired by build up of sedimentation and loss of its very large headwaters- natural filtration system.

Additionally, the bulk of the water rights flowing down the South Yuba River belong to PG&E, and, even if PG&E proved to be a willing seller, would SLCWD prove a willing buyer, year after year? Would our water rates increase?  Unless Royal Gorge LLC can come up with an elegant mechanism to separate this more expensive water from that which SLCWD has rights to, and can assure long term funding, long after Royal Gorge LLC is gone, present constituents of SLCWD might be helping pick up the tab for the very expensive water needed for Royal Gorge LLC's development.  CFD's, which Royal Gorge LLC proposes to use for funding infrastructure are flexible, but they don't encompass maintenance, and it's questionable whether they provide for ongoing water purchases.  All those complexities aside, PG&E would have to agree to some water rights arrangement in order for Royal Gorge LLC to raise the Van Norden Dam.  Add in the additional confusion engendered by the fact  that that dam would be in Donner Summit Public Utilities District (DSPUD), and that Royal Gorge might be proposing to pipe water that flows to the North Fork American River over to the South Yuba River, stir it all over a low flame, and you have the  recipe for years of employment for water rights attorneys, some of whom our tax money will be paying for, when that money could be better spent on infrastructure.

Buried at the end of Royal Gorge LLC's "Water Supply Alternatives" was the plumbing solution many believe to be their holy grail-- a dam on Serena Creek.  Possibly they've conjectured, that at least for Serene Lakes, it would be "out of sight, out of mind." A dam down Serena Creek would be anything but, as the construction of a dam a quarter of a mile wide, and 60 to 70 feet high would be a major disruption to our community, and would present a seismic hazard to Cedars and other properties it would loom over.  There has been an earthquake of a magnitude 5 on the Richter scale in the environs of this proposed dam, and there is no reason to believe the area has become more seismically stable.

Further, a dam on Serena Creek would surely wake up the slumbering downstream users, as it would hold back a significant amount of water they now tap into flowing down the North Fork American River. Environmental groups as well would have concerns, not only about less water down the North Fork American River, but also about the destruction of the pristine and scenic Serena Creek canyon.  

And also, even if Royal Gorge LLC payed for this colossal dam, SLCWD would be stuck with the ongoing job of servicing and maintaining it, which would only add to our water bill-- all to provide water to a new development, and not to enhance our own water supply. Again, CFD's can pay for initial capital investments, and some start up costs (like publicity, etc.) but they don't pay for ongoing maintenance-- SLCWD, and when it comes down to it, all of us would have to bear those costs.

What's it to be -- raising the dam on Lake Dulzura, a dam on Van Norden Meadow, or a dam on Serena Creek? Does it occur to anyone that Royal Gorge LLC's proposals to flood Serene Lakes greenbelt, or scar the wilderness with a new dam or two show that when it comes to genuine concern for wilderness preservation, and real concern for Serene Lakes property owners and SLCWD ratepayers-- they don't give a tinker's dam?