Gov. Jerry Brown and Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins rallied support for the state water bond – Proposition 1 [1]– at Water Authority headquarters in late October. Voters in San Diego County and statewide overwhelmingly supported the bond on Election Day, providing $7.5 billion for funding projects and initiatives across California.
The water bond was the product of negotiations led by Gov. Brown, Speaker Atkins and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. The Water Authority worked for months to advocate for the San Diego region’s policy priorities in Sacramento and supported the final version of the bond passed by the Legislature. Every member of the San Diego County delegation voted for the bond measure.
As passed by the voters, Proposition 1 provides money for water-use efficiency and recycling, desalination, groundwater cleanup and management, as well as $2.7 billion for additional water storage. It also invests in safe drinking water, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and funds watershed restoration and increased flows in some of California's most important rivers and streams, including the San Diego River. In addition, the bond includes money to fulfill state obligations, including mitigation and restoration obligations at the Salton Sea as part of the Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement of 2003.
The water bond contains competitive funding opportunities for the San Diego region to advance local and regional water supply development. Of the bond money that was regionally allocated, the San Diego region was slated to receive nearly 11 percent of the total, an equitable amount proportional to the region’s share of the state’s population.
Magnet distributed to college students
Water Authority-sponsored theatrical shows reached nearly 65,000 elementary school students during the year with timely messages about water conservation, as part of the agency’s commitment to education [2]. In addition, the Water Authority helped pay for 3,700 grade-schoolers to visit the Splash Lab, a mobile science laboratory that provided hands-on instruction about water issues at 24 schools.
The Water Authority also collaborated with the region’s universities to distribute thousands of refrigerator magnets to students as they stepped onto campuses for the fall semester. The magnets emphasized the need for everyone in San Diego County to conserve water with mandatory water-use restrictions in place.
Links:
[1] http://www.sdcwa.org/state-water-bond-would-benefit-local-projects
[2] http://www.sdcwa.org/education