This summer, the state of California will make key investments in new water storage. Fulfilling the mandate of voters who overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1, the California Water Commission is on track to commit $2.7 billion in public dollars to water storage projects in July.
Investing in additional water storage is critical to California’s water future, not only to manage through inevitable droughts but also to prepare for the effects of climate change. That’s why Gov. Jerry Brown administration’s California Water Action Plan calls for investments in both above- and below-ground water storage as part of an “all-of-the-above” water management strategy.
Californians embraced this approach in 2014 when they approved Proposition 1, which provided $2.7 billion to help fund vital storage projects through a competitive process called the Water Storage Investment Program.
As the agency tasked with allocating the funds, the California Water Commission is eager to fund as many eligible projects as possible. Our work enters a key stage next month with a series of decision-making meetings that will lead to preliminary funding determinations in July.
We understand the important task at hand. Commission members and staff worked with stakeholders and the public over a two-year period to develop an open, fair and transparent process to ensure the best return on the public’s investment and create the water storage California vitally needs. We are confident this due diligence will result in dollars going to qualifying projects later this year.
Proposition 1 was very specific about how the $2.7 billion for water storage can be used and the factors to be evaluated in this competitive and public process. It allows the state to fund only specific public benefits — ecosystem improvements, water quality improvements, flood control, emergency response, and recreation — to help make projects financially viable for their local proponents. This is a new and innovative way to look at storage, and in many ways the commission, project proponents and stakeholders are breaking new ground together.
Technical review teams with experts from the Commission, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Department of Water Resources, and the State Water Resources Control Board have the complex task of evaluating the public benefits of 11 projects that are seeking funding. Their work will be released April 20, and a round of public meetings will be held with applicants to explain their recommendations and identify any issues that need clarification.
Commissioners will consider the recommendations, along with comments from the public and applicants, at a three-day meeting set for May 1-3 in Sacramento. By the end of that meeting, the Commission will make final determinations on each project’s public benefit ratio, which is one of four component scores that will be used to determine eligibility for Proposition 1 funding.
The remaining scores will be determined at a three-day meeting in June, and the Commission will make preliminary funding decisions at its July meeting. Public input and engagement are key.
In approving Proposition 1, Californians entrusted the commission to invest the $2.7 billion for measurable and accountable public benefits to achieve water reliability and resiliency as envisioned in the California Water Action Plan. Just like Californians and the applicants in our process, we are eager to invest in the additional storage needed to secure California’s future.
Armando Quintero is chair and Carol Baker is vice chair of the California Water Commission.
