Saving water, losing lives?(Lining canal will more illegal immigrants drown?)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: LA Times

At the far end of the Terrace Park Cemetery, between the grassy field of flower-dotted gravestones and a makeshift dump, lie rows of numbered bricks in the dirt, some with names and some that read "John Doe." Among those buried here, mostly illegal immigrants, are at least 40 who drowned in the nearby All American Canal.

The 82-mile canal that carries water west from the Colorado River to the Imperial Valley has claimed the lives of more than 500 people since 1942, including almost 180 in the last 10 years. It's about to get more treacherous.

About 23 miles of the canal are being lined with concrete to conserve water by preventing it from seeping into the ground. When the lining is complete, water will flow faster and the canal sides will be steeper, slicker and harder to scale. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began work in June.

The original 1994 plan for the lining project called for "large mammal escape ridges," or steps, to make it easier for both humans and animals to get out of the water. But the Bureau of Reclamation no longer intends to include escape ridges, saying they cause structural instability and leakage.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-canal15jul15,0,2849071.story?coll=la-home-center

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For both humans and animals the escape steps should be included!

[Cobalt-60]

1. I call bullshit

Steps don't cause leakage.
Not only are they lying, they're not doing the whole job.
Eventially these waterways will have to be covered to reduce evaporation.