MWD Should Revise Tunnel Entrance

Metropolitan Water District project manager Adam Kear is quoted in a recent Times article (“It’s More Than a Pipe Dream,” Nov. 10) as saying that residents’ concerns are understandable and that he is “. . . counting on canyon folks to help us come up with solutions” regarding MWD’s proposed massive water tunnel under our homes.

While this project will certainly benefit developers and provide job security for MWD employees and their consultants, many of us canyonites are experiencing a queasy, sinking feeling.

On Nov. 15, Mr. Kear received numerous individually written letters from canyon residents, a letter signed by all the officers of Silverado Elementary School’s Parent Faculty Committee and petitions signed by more than 400 people indicating their opposition to this project as presently envisioned.

The parts of this project to which most of us object are MWD’s suggested tunnel entrance site within the Silverado-Modjeska area, and putting an estimated 70 truckloads of debris per day on Santiago Canyon Road for the project’s 24-hour-a-day four-year duration.

Santiago Canyon Road is an already overused two-lane road that is the lifeline to our community, The trucks’ dust, noise and engine emissions will inhibit learning and jeopardize the health of our children in Silverado Elementary, as well as the safety of the 20,000 commuters who use this road to avoid crowded freeways. There are other, much less disruptive places to locate the tunnel entrance and haul and dump the debris. Tons of gravel trucks already make runs to a nearby gravel pit.

In a letter accompanying the petitions was an offer to send an elected five-person delegation to help MWD come up with mitigation solutions. If MWD truly wants to work with us, that’s a good way to begin.

JIM SILL

Modjeska Canyon