Ten Years and $7.5 Billion Later, No New Water Storage in California

No new water storage infrastructure has been built in California, more than a decade after voters approved a $7.5 billion water bond in Proposition 1 of 2014.

The San Jose Mercury-News reported Wednesday that officials are deciding what to do with nearly half a billion dollars of available cash after the “collapse” of a project to expand the Los Vaqueros Reservoir, which is east of San Francisco.

Other projects have received funding for planning and permitting, but nothing has been built.

The newspaper noted:

A majority of the seven board members of the California Water Commission, a state agency that distributes funding to build reservoirs and other water projects, indicated they are leaning toward dividing up the $453 million left over from the Los Vaqueros project and giving it this

Continue reading