To the Editor:
During the last two days of rain, it was announced that the rapidly filling dam at Lake Nacimiento had to release water into the rising Salinas River. This could have been avoided and that water saved if the long-proposed tunnel to connect and feed excess water to nearby Lake San Antonio had been built.
If my memory is correct, during the recent drought, money was spent to once again study this short inter-lake tunnel. Since Lake Nacimiento always fills up first and is higher than Lake San Antonio, with an interconnecting tunnel gravity does all the work and no costly pumps are needed.
This seems like a relatively inexpensive solution to save a lot more rain water while decreasing the flood risk to the Salinas River. It’s too bad it was never built when both lakes were near dry and construction would have been easier and less costly.
However, with Gov. Newsom recently announcing more money for flood control, it seems like it’s time to quit studying this important and relatively inexpensive project and start building it.
Curtis Tucker
King City
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