California Water Crisis Proposal
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More Aging Earth Headlines >> 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - Aging Earth Home California Water Crisis Proposal 2007 September - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced a $9 billion water infrastructure proposal to be introduced in the legislative special session that he called in response to California’s water crisis. The plan adds about $3 billion above and beyond the water plan the governor introduced in the spring. Schwarzenegger says $600 million is needed to immediately relieve pressure on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from environmental challenges and to respond to an August 31 federal court ruling that will reduce water deliveries from the Delta to Southern California. The water is being withheld to save the small silvery Delta smelt that has been declining year by year due to low water levels in its habitat and now is on the brink of extinction. Twenty five million Californians rely on the Delta for drinking water. It also irrigates hundreds of thousands of acres of Central Valley farmland and it is the backbone of California’s $32 billion agricultural industry. "Our water crisis has gotten worse with the dry conditions and the recent federal court action that is going to have a devastating impact on the state's economy and the 25 million Californians who depend on Delta water," said the governor. "We need a comprehensive fix. That is why we are introducing two bills to solve California’s water crisis in both the short and long-term. I look forward to working and negotiating with my partners in the Legislature so we can approve a comprehensive upgrade to California’s water infrastructure." Written in two bills authored by Assembly Republican Leader Michael Villines, a Fresno Republican and Senator Dave Cogdill, a Modesto Republican, the proposal represents a combination of ideas previously detailed in proposals by the governor and legislative leaders. The proposal includes $5.6 billion for water storage, and identifies three locations for surface storage in reservoirs. The Temperance Flat Reservoir would be created with a new dam on the San Joaquin River; the Sites Reservoir would require a dam diverting water from the Sacramento River, and the the third effort would be the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project in Contra Costa County. The governor proposes to spend nearly $2 billion in Delta restoration in addition to the first $600 million. Of that funding, $1.4 billion would be spent for habitat restoration, and $500 million would fund early actions to address environmental concerns in the Delta. $1 billion would be fund grants for conservation and regional water projects and $500 million would be spent for specific water restoration projects. The governor's previous $5.9 billion water storage proposal was turned back in April by Democrats in the state Senate who said it was too costly and too little was known about how it would help California out of the water crisis. Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez of Los Angeles and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata of the Bay Area, both Democrats, said last week that they intend to reach agreement by September 27 to approve a new multibillion-dollar bond to pay for water storage and a solution to environmental problems in the Delta, such as a canal that Schwarzenegger has backed. That time frame would allow the bond to go on the February 5, 2008 presidential primary election ballot. More Aging Earth Headlines >> 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - Aging Earth Home © 2009; Aging Earth .com |