Common lore quotes Mark Twain as saying, “Whiskey’s for drinking and water’s for fighting over.” Sadly, more than a century after Twain served as a reporter for The Sacramento Union newspaper, those words still ring true in the Capitol.
The ongoing battle over water pits the same factions in the same fights: farmers versus environmentalists; north versus south; and conservation versus storage.
What’s so frustrating is that this vicious cycle can be broken. We can responsibly provide what we need for the people of this state and this economy, protect the Delta and the environment that relies upon it. There isn’t anything more important to the people of this state, our economy and, even our national security, than a safe, secure, clean and abundant water supply for all Californians.
And while the buzz is growing in the Capitol about moving toward solving the state’s water problems – we need a little less talk and a lot more action.
I hear people say, “We can’t afford to build more storage.” The truth is: we can’t afford to continue to neglect our aging water infrastructure.
The current water delivery system, built a half century ago, was designed to serve half of the state’s current population. California’s in the midst of the third straight year of drought, with the fourth dry year knocking at the door. We need to better manage the water resources we do receive from natural precipitation. During an average rain year, more than 20 percent of our natural water runoff is wasted by simply flowing out into the ocean. With the right infrastructure in place, we could endure the inevitable dry years by storing more water, both above and below ground, during wet years.
In addition, we could jump start our lagging economy by investing in projects to improve our water storage and delivery systems. These projects would immediately create crucially-needed jobs in the construction sector – with the added benefit of contributing more to the state’s tax base without raising taxes.
My comprehensive proposal, the Safe, Clean, Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act, takes into account the complex nature of the water crisis with a solution that protects the fragile Delta, improves responsible conservation and encourages effective management of California’s water resources.
Taxpayers alone would not foot the bill for these water management improvements. In fact, these bond dollars cannot even be issued until the private beneficiaries put up their share of the funds to build more storage. This strategy will help the state use $3 billion to leverage at least that amount or more in matching funds from other sources.
Without a doubt, we cannot continue to kick this problem down the road. We’ve studied California’s water challenges for years and realistic solutions are readily available.
Inaction will only cause this crisis to worsen. A piecemeal approach will only serve as a stopgap and do nothing to help meet the water demand for the future or to protect the jobs already lost.
In a cruel twist of irony, this continued dry spell is costing the jobs of thousands of Central Valley workers who once helped harvest food for the nation, and the world. Permanent crops are dying on the vine, putting the nation’s food supply in danger of foreign takeover. Too many hardworking Californians are receiving unemployment checks rather than paychecks and waiting in lines at food banks.
Now that’s something we can’t afford.