SANTA CLARITA, California – Local leadership is calling the California drought an emergency.
The Metropolitan Water District, which made the statement, manages water supplies to 26 authorities in six counties with 19 million customers.
What you need to know
- The local leadership calls the drought in California an emergency
- The Metropolitan Water District, which made the statement, manages water supplies to 26 authorities in six counties
- A Santa Clarita resident said he could have the prototype that would alleviate the drought in several towns with a lake
- He started doing all sorts of research, eventually devising a plan and building a model of Santa Clarita to showcase what he calls the Santa Clarita River Lake Project
A Santa Clarita resident says he could have the prototype to help ease the drought in several towns with a lake.
John Pramik was the pianist for some of the greatest films of our time, including “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.
“I was doing film jobs on the side and was in The Truman Show with Jim Carrey and Ed Harris,” said Pramik.
But nowadays he uses his hands for a completely different, unexpected passion that was born from a random rainy day in 2017 that prompted him to come up with a complete water-saving concept.
“I took my umbrella and went up here on the bridge and look at all the water that is flowing under it and I think there has to be a way to hold back this precious water for our community,” he said.
He began doing all kinds of research, eventually devising a plan and building a model of Santa Clarita to showcase what he calls the Santa Clarita River Lake Project.
With just a gradation of the existing river and two new dams, Pramik said the rainwater that normally flows straight through the Santa Clara River into the Pacific Ocean could instead be caught and stored in a lake.
“The river lake would be here on the dam, so very low-lying dam,” said Pramik with reference to his model. “The dam is 12 feet high so you can see that there isn’t much pressure. And it’s a hydraulic dam so you can see it going up and down. “
Pramik said that after about four years and 10,000 hours of research and design, he began sharing this model with several lawmakers and local leaders, including the city of Los Angeles.
Santa Clarita Mayor Bill Miranda said he supported the project and provided residents with a video asking them to attend a meeting held last week to learn more and their thoughts on the idea to share.
He said on the phone that the community would be the ones who would decide if this was feasible.
“If it’s feasible, we’ll go to the next room and find out, and that’s where we work with the city and see if it’s sustainable,” Miranda explained. “Right? We don’t want a project where we’re building something and it’s not sustainable, it can’t last.” ”
He and Pramik said they had spoken to numerous engineers about the concept, but as the details continue to be ironed out, they still need a lot of guidance.
Nevertheless, Pramik is enthusiastic about this vision.
“We can use it for recreation, we can use it for sailing, we can also use it as a home for our endangered species,” he said.
Pramik is currently trying to get community support for the project. For more information, please visit: santaclaritariverlake.com/.
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