It is a critical time in California water policy.
At the end of 2009, a series of water-related bills was passed by the California Legislature, with the intent of moving the state out of decades of gridlock over water resource management. Simultaneously, the Legislature approved an $11.14 billion bond called the “Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010” to fund water system upgrades. This is the largest water bond in 50 years, yet the costs and benefits of the bond have not been fully assessed by an independent organization. The Governor recently proposed postponing the bond, but the Legislature has not yet taken the action required to have it pulled off of the November ballot.
The Pacific Institute’s Water Program and Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice Program have collaborated on an independent analysis of the bond and released the report: The California 2010 Water Bond: What Does It Say and Do? The questions addressed by our analysis include:
- What does the bond language actually cover and say?
- How does the bond compare to past water bonds in size, definitions, and scope?
- How will the bond be allocated among different funding priorities?
- What are the governance implications of the bond?
- What options are available for funding water system improvements?
- What effect would the bond have on other critical public services and projects funded by the state?
- How are the water needs of disadvantaged communities addressed by the bond?
The full report of our independent analysis of the 2010 Water Bond is available, as well as three NEED TO KNOW Information Sheets.
Bottles move down a conveyor belt at the Evian mineral water plant in Amphion-les-Bains, France. Photograph by Jean-Pierre Clatot, AFP/Getty Images
“Everyone needs water, and in much of the developed world, they get it—virtually for free. Yet companies have made a big business out of selling water products to people with ready access to safe, clean tap water.
“The effects of the bottled-water movement have been devastating, not just on wallets but also on the environment, says Peter Gleick, one of the world’s foremost experts on sustainable water use and winner of a 2003 MacArthur “genius” grant. In his first book for the general public, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, Gleick explores the skillful marketing that made bottled water such a success, the myth of “clean” bottled water, and the surprising toll it has taken on our environment.
(Read more about the book on the NewsWatch Blog.)
“National Geographic News writer Eliza Barclay recently spoke with Gleick, who is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California.”
read more: National Geographic
“the debate comes down to the best way to spend our limited public money to improve our water system. And spending $3.3 billion to help a very small number of farmers use water they cannot afford is not the best way. It won’t solve agriculture’s more fundamental challenges. It won’t restore our Delta ecosystems. It won’t satisfy new urban demands. In the end, the massive new infrastructure proposed for public financing would be an expensive distraction from real solutions.”
Read more: sfgate
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