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County Makes Money Available For Purified Water

Interim funding for the East County Advanced Water Purification Program has been approved by the San Diego County Sanitation District. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors board members are also the board members of the San Diego County Sanitation District, and on July 10 the county supervisors voted 5-0 to authorize the sanitation district’s $2,350,000 share for the final program development costs. The supervisors also authorized the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors to execute the East County Advanced Water Purification Interim Funding Agreement which also involves the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, the Helix Water District, and the City of El Cajon, and the authorization of planning studies was found to be categorically exempt from California Environmental Act review although those studies themselves will likely include environmental review.

OPINION: Proposition 3 Will Pay For A Multitude Of Water Needs

California needs clean, safe and reliable water supplies. We also would greatly benefit from the improved flood management Proposition 3 would provide. The measure on the Nov. 6 ballot includes $400 million to implement the Central Valley Flood Control Plan and repair Oroville Dam. Climate change is worsening the threat of floods. Sacramento is the nation’s second most flood-prone city after New Orleans. We need all the help we can get to improve our levees, widen the floodplain to accommodate higher Sacramento River flows and improve and repair upstream flood control dams such as Oroville.

OPINION: Long Road Still Ahead To Fund New California Water Storage Projects

The California Water Commission recently allocated $2.7 billion from Proposition 1 bonds for eight water storage projects. Proposition 1 was passed in 2014 to fund a range of projects, including the “public purposes” of water storage projects, such as for ecosystem support, flood risk reduction, water quality, recreation and emergency response. Among its many funding provisions, both surface and underground water storage projects were eligible, nonstorage projects were not eligible and Proposition 1 could fund no more than 50 percent of storage project costs. Proposition 1’s storage provisions were driven by the still common notion that expanding surface storage is the major way to end water problems.