California Voice: Infrastructure bill gives state opportunity to fix water supply issue

August 18, 2021

Once again, Californians are suffering through drought and wildfires. The climate change report recently issued by a United Nations committee of international scientists makes it clear the problem is getting worse and we must act now.

There is something we can do right now. The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate and awaiting action by the House gives us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help promote drought resiliency, adjust to climate change, protect the environment, mitigate wildfires, maintain a safe, healthy, local food supply and ensure communities have the water they need to run their homes and power their businesses.

As Californians know all too well, climate change has brought us wetter wet years and drier dry ones. Just two short years after our reservoirs were full, we’re once again in drought. This infrastructure legislation will expand our ability to capture both surface and groundwater in times of excess for use in times of scarcity. Storage projects large and small will improve water supply, expand flood control, improve downstream water quality and provide ecosystem benefits.

In February of 2019, 18 trillion gallons of rain fell in California, more than enough to meet the annual needs of every citizen and farm in the state, all in one month. But due to inadequate storage, much of it washed out to sea. We can’t afford to let that happen again.

We also need to fix what already exists. The system of pipes, canals and other infrastructure we rely on to deliver water to our taps is more than 50 years old and failing. Improving our water supply doesn’t help anyone if we can’t deliver it, and this legislation supplies the resources for many of the necessary repairs.

It also provides for improved forest health and watershed management, which will help us mitigate wildfires.

Nearly a million Californians lack access to clean drinking water. They are among the first to lose water in a drought. This legislation will ensure small, rural and disadvantaged communities have access to clean water.

Making our water supply more reliable will also help you at the grocery store by ensuring farmers have the water necessary to provide the safe, healthy, local food supply our families count on. In the current drought, the state has been forced to completely eliminate water supplies for thousands of family farms. If we fail to fix this problem, it will mean less locally grown food in our markets and restaurants and dependence on more imported foods, which are often not grown under the same safety standards as California farm products.

Many of the ideas contained in this legislation are not new. In fact, several of them — including multibenefit storage projects, water recycling and reuse projects, water desalination and ecosystem protection and restoration — were included in legislation introduced earlier this year by Rep. Jared Huffman in his Future Western Water Infrastructure and Drought Resiliency Act.

This historic legislation will also allow us to “build back better” as outlined by President Joe Biden. This means utilizing improved technology on recycling and desalination, as well as investing in habitat restoration, forest management and “green” infrastructure projects such as groundwater banking.

Time is running out as the West battles a historic drought. Without action by the House, the long-term viability of our family farms, rural communities and the environment in the West is in jeopardy.

The Senate passed this legislation with rare bipartisan support and the president wants to sign it. All eyes are now on the House to bring desperately needed relief to a parched California and the West. The House of Representatives can do that by promptly passing the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Mike Wade is executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition in Sacramento. Info: FarmWater.org


By:  Mike Wade
Source: Marin Independent Journal