Re: San Francisco's ability to cope with disaster
- From: Robert Sturgeon <rsturge@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 08:20:37 -0700
On Sun, 28 May 2006 17:42:24 -0700, Offbreed
<offbreed_106@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Robert Sturgeon wrote:
(snips)
There is also the "minor" problem that a major earthquake in
northern California could collapse the levees in the San
Joaquin/Sacramento delta, wiping out the supply of fresh
water to over half the population of California.
Well, for a short while, anyhow, as the various "islands" fill with
water.
It's a much more complicated problem. There are pipelines
which transverse the delta carrying water for the two major
Bay Area water systems - Hetch Hetchy and East Bay M.U.D.
Those might break. And the delta's channels carry water
that is sent south in the state's two major north/south
canals, the Delta-Mendota Canal and the California Aqueduct.
The channels are highly suseptible to quake damage, and if
the power is disrupted to the pumps, the water can't be
lifted up into the canals anyway, even if the canals aren't
damaged.
(I understand that several of them have been converted to suburbs
(!?!?!?!?) (flaming idiots), how do they avoid contaminating the water
with sewage, or do they?)
The process of converting delta islands to housing tracts
has barely begun. There is quite a bit of resistance, since
it is truly one of the most hare-brained ideas going. See
below.
I don't recall hearing of the Delta getting shaken much in any quakes.
How high is this risk supposed to be? I'd think the canals would be more
vulnerable.
No, the canals are not as vulnerable as the delta channels
and islands. The delta is highly subject to quake damage.
There are major fault lines in and near the delta. The
delta mostly consists of sandy peat soil which is likely to
suffer liquefaction during a quake. The islands are
actually lower in elevation than the surrounding channels.
Put it all together, and it is a huge disaster just waiting
to happen.
We Californian's were offered the best possible solution to
the problem, the Peripheral Canal, but we were too stupid to
vote for it. Now, with the environmentalist whackos firmly
in charge, we will NOT have such a solution until after the
Big One, when it will be a lot more expensive, and we will
already be in the midst of a water crisis like no other.
--
Robert Sturgeon
Summum ius summa inuria.
http://www.vistech.net/users/rsturge/
.
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