Without Water, is there a
Future for the Auburn Dam?

The Auburn Dam has long been considered the best solution for water storage, clean energy, and flood prevention, but on July 21, these valuable opportunities may be lost if we lose the water rights to fill it. The State has a use-it-or-lose-it water rights policy.

The State Water Resources Control Board will hold a hearing to receive evidence relevant to determining whether Permits assigned to the United States Bureau of Reclamation should be revoked.  All four permits for the Auburn Dam Project require that “actual construction work shall begin on or before nine months from date of permit and shall thereafter be prosecuted with reasonable diligence, and if not so commenced and prosecuted this permit may be revoked.”

A full-scale Auburn Dam project will be able to generate more than 650 Megawatts of electricity.   Building the Auburn Dam is also vital to securing the long-term flood protection needs of the Central Valley.  Sacramento is one of the most flood-prone metropolitan areas in the United States.  The Auburn Dam will give the Sacramento Region a minimum of 200-year flood protection.  The dam will have the capability of stopping torrential flows of water down the American River, thus reducing the stress placed on Folsom Lake and the region’s levee system during the worst of storms.

The reservoir behind the dam will be capable of storing over 2 Million Acre Feet of water.  The size of the reservoir will provide enough water storage to prevent cutbacks and rationing during the worst of droughts, saving farmers, businesses and residents from potential disasters stemming from a major water shortage.

The Auburn Dam Reservoir will provide more reliable water flows for the American River and the Sacramento Delta.  More water in the Delta on a continual basis will mean that fish and wildlife will no longer be threatened by tides carrying harmful saltwater from the San Francisco Bay in drought years when freshwater supplies are depleted.  The reliable water source of the reservoir will help restore the Delta ecosystem to a more natural state.

The reservoir will provide a limitless recreational opportunity for Northern California residents that will relieve pressure on Folsom Lake.  With the state’s rapidly growing population, current recreational facilities are reaching their capacity.  The Auburn Dam Reservoir will provide thousands of acres of water sports, hiking, wildlife viewing and other activities within the current Auburn State Recreation Area. 

The trend of Global Warming, regardless of the cause, can only be mitigated with a dam.  Predictions of the effects of Global warming include both warmer temperatures and increased precipitation. The Sacramento region has the unusual distinction of suffering from both the threat of severe flooding and drought in the very same year. The Auburn Dam is the only alternative that solves both of these water management needs. Without it, Sacramento will inevitably suffer from catastrophic flooding, and our region will continue to be held victim to the effects of a depleting water supply.

U.S. Representative Doolittle and every member of the California Republican Delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger opposing a proposal to revoke the existing water rights held by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the Auburn Dam.

“As recent conditions demonstrate, now is not the time for the State Water Resources Control Board to be using its resources to decrease potential water supply for the state,” Doolittle wrote in the letter.  “The existing water rights for the Auburn Dam would assist in our combined efforts to provide California’s residents with adequate water supply.”

“While construction of the Auburn Dam has been delayed, the existing water rights are a valuable potential source of much-needed water,” Doolittle added, while citing the additional flood control, recreation, and environmental benefits the Auburn Dam would provide.

Local environmentalists oppose any dam on the river. They want 200-year flood protection achieved by raising and reinforcing levees, changing Folsom Dam operation to permanently provide for further draw-down of the reservoir, and changing the Dam's size and spillway. Their National counterparts will make it a national issue if Congress appears ready to fund a dam program.