KXO RADIO - Majority of Imperial Irrigation District Board verbally supports canal safety measures

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Todays is : Thursday, 20 November 2008

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Written by George Gale
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
(John Hunter said Tuesday’s Imperial Irrigation District meeting was a good first step)….Hunter went before the IID Board as head of the Citizens For American Canal Safety. He made a full presentation to the District Board on the dangers the canal poses, and the deaths resulting from those dangers. Hunter said 500 people have died in the All American between 1942 and 2006. He said the numbers tend to increase as years go by, and he said not all the people who die in the canal are illegal migrants. Hunter brought a filmmaker with him to the meeting. A documentary is being made on the dangers of the All American. A five-minute segment of the documentary was shown at the meeting. It included family members of people who have drowned in the canal. The plan is to distribute the documentary nationally when it is completed. Hunter said his group wanted the District to install safety measures in the canal, and especially in the new portion of the canal being lined with concrete. He said buoy lines should be installed in short intervals and safety ridges placed in between the buoys. Hunter was reminded that while the District was the custodian of the canal, it was still owned by the federal government, and the lining project was being paid for by the State of California and San Diego County Water Authority. Three Directors, Mike Abatti, Stella Mendoza and Anthony Sanchez, all said they wanted Hunter’s presentation sent to the San Diego Authority and to the Bureau of Reclamation with a letter from the IID indicating their support for the safety measures. Hunter later said that was a good start. Jim Abatti, who has litigation pending against the canal-lining project, said he would seriously consider dropping his lawsuit once the measure began to be installed. Mike King, IID Water Department Director, said, unfortunately, some of the safety measures proposed would not work, and the other one is beyond the District’s control. He said the safety steps would only create a false sense of security to anyone caught in the canal. He said the step would accumulate silt and become too slippery to be of any use. King said the Bureau has already declared the buoy lines would be nothing more than an attractive nuisance and would entice people to use them to cross into the United States. The U.S. Border Patrol has also said they do not have the personnel to monitor the lines stretching the 23 miles the canal is being lined with concrete.