51�Թ�

Gary Bobker, program director for the environmental group Friends of the River, said implementing the president’s wish list would “dewater California rivers, promote toxic algal blooms, cause a number of native species to go extinct — not just Delta smelt, but salmon, steelhead and sturgeon.”

“Boswell paid for that, just to dewater the lake faster.”

Keats said, however, that these contracts “don’t trump the public trust doctrine” and that the city is violating its obligations by allowing diversions that dewater the river.

More than half of that goes to “dewater” it and keep rain and tidal water from flooding what once was an underground garage.

Richard Dewater, 21, killed by a bomb while on patrol.