Gaps in funding for water treatment are a major problem in California. Water providers operate independently, relying virtually entirely on customer fees to cover costs. For agencies with scale, money and access to quality water sources, this model works well. But absent those resources, contamination persists for years without resolution.
The 2014 water bond included a novel funding approach designed to take at least some of the politicking out of deciding which projects get public money. This week’s tortured deliberations by the California Water Commission showed just how tough it is to do that. By applying a complex procedure for grading proposals, the bond restricted state taxpayer spending to the pieces of a project that would provide measurable benefits to the public.
The 20th century was the century of the megaproject, and as usual, California pointed the way for the nation. Southern California’s freeway system and the State Water Project, both largely completed by the 1970s, were mighty testaments to the conceit that we could build our way out of any problem. That view, of course, has since been tempered by inconvenient realities.
In a significant boost for Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17 billion plan to build two massive tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Delta to more easily move water south, Silicon Valley’s largest water agency Tuesday endorsed the project and voted to commit up to $650 million to help pay for it. With a 4-3 vote after a packed four-hour meeting, the Santa Clara Valley Water District reversed a decision it made in October to oppose the two-tunnel project.
A Bay Area water agency agreed Tuesday to pump $650 million into Gov. Jerry Brown’s Delta tunnels project, providing a meaningful boost for the controversial $16.7 billion plan. The 4-3 vote by the Santa Clara Valley Water District brings the tunnels project, which would overhaul the troubled heart of California’s aging water delivery network, a step closer to being fully funded. Just a few months ago the project, officially known as California WaterFix, was sputtering for a lack of funds.
Silicon Valley’s water district narrowly approved participating in a massive and pricey California water project, including contributing $650 million to help pay for it. The Santa Clara Valley Water District Board voted 4-3 to join the Joint Powers Authority that will oversee the design, construction and financing of Governor Jerry Brown’s approximately $17 million project that will use massive tunnels to siphon water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for use in drier regions in Southern California. “If we are not engaged on these issues, the balance of power will tip to the south,” said board member Tony Estremera during the meeting.
There may not have been a “March Miracle” when it came to the snowpack in the state, but there was sure one when it came to water conservation. The State Water Resources Control reported that in March urban Californians used 24.8 percent less water than in March 2013, the benchmark year considered to be before the drought. That’s a dramatic turnaround from conservation numbers that have been dropping fairly steadily since June 2016, culminating in February with the state using more water than during the same month in 2013.
A bruising battle pitting the two biggest players in Arizona water came to a pause late last week as the agencies announced a truce and promised to work together. On Thursday, the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Central Arizona Water Conservancy District dropped their swords and published a joint statement of cooperation.
As the Water Commission crept closer this week to actually spending the water storage money voters approved in 2014, things predictably got ugly. What the commission did this week is determined the public benefit of the 12 projects that were seeking the $2.7 billion in Proposition 1 that was earmarked for water storage. The problem is, it wasn’t just earmarked for water storage. It was earmarked only for water storage that provide five defined public benefits: ecosystem benefits, water quality, flood control, emergency response and recreation.
The outlook for the most important river in the Southwestern U.S. remains grim this summer after April storms failed to produce much snow in the mountains that feed the waterway, forecasters said Monday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the Colorado River is expected to carry only 43 percent of the average amount of water into Lake Powell, one of two huge reservoirs that store and distribute the river.
