As California faces ongoing severe drought conditions, lawmakers are urging immediate action to implement billions in funding already approved by voters to build new water storage and maintain existing infrastructure.
The projects have been beset by bureaucratic obstructionism for decades, Sen. Jim Nielsen, R – Red Bluff, vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee, told the Northern California Record.
“And state government – legislative and executive – has been unwilling to do anything decisive about water supplies,” Nielsen said. “Now we’re in another drought and we have not increased our capacity for more storage; we have not maintained or improved existing storage.”
This despite billions approved by California voters in Proposition 1, which was passed by a decisive 2-1 margin in 2014.
Neglect of crucial maintenance at Oroville Dam has contributed to problems, including its failure three years ago and record low levels last year, Nielsen said.
Last week, Nielsen and Sen. Andreas Borgeas, R-Fresno, introduced SB 890, urgency legislation to take effect immediately. It would create a Water Storage and Conveyance Fund with $2.6 billion for completion of the Sites Reservoir in Colusa County and $685 million for repairs on Central Valley canals.
"California’s water storage and conveyance challenges transcend partisan divides and have been exacerbated due to the recent drought," Sen. Borgeas, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a news release. “Clean, reliable water in California is not only critical to our country’s economy and food supply, but also our national security. Without proper storage and conveyance investments, California cannot continue to lead the nation in food production.”
The Senate Republican Caucus in December wrote to the governor to urge action on water storage projects.
“It is immediately urgent that our government do what has already been provided for – the provision was passed, the new water plan was passed,” Nielsen said. “It needs to be implemented.”