Amid California’s prolonged droughts, Central Coast water managers are making a new push to increase water storage capacity in Monterey County.
More specifically they’re making a renewed push for a $300 million project to increase water storage capacity at one of the county’s largest but driest reservoirs; Lake San Antonio.
California is poised to have a record budget this year and tucked into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $286.4 billion spending proposal for fiscal year 2022-23 is about $21 billion in extra cash that will be up for grabs. Monterey County is jumping into the scrum, hoping the state can set hundreds of millions of dollars aside to help finance three critical water projects for the Salinas Valley and South County. Brent Buche, general manager of the county’s Water Resources Agency, calls the surplus situation a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to get major funds from the state. The county is not holding back.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
