Broad Coalition of Business, Labor, Social Justice, Water and Environmental Leaders Applauds Governor for Releasing Water Resilience Portfolio
July 29, 2020
Governor establishes modernizing Delta Conveyance as priority in securing water supply, preparing state for impacts of climate change
Sacramento – Today, the Newsom Administration released its Water Resilience Portfolio, outlining his administration’s policy priorities to prepare the state’s water supply for the anticipated impacts of climate change. The report, prepared by California’s Natural Resources Agency, California EPA, and California Department of Food & Agriculture, identifies policy priorities to address challenges to California’s water supply, like more extreme droughts and floods, over drafted groundwater basins, and aging infrastructure. The Administration’s policy priorities include support for modernizing California’s main water distribution infrastructure by constructing a single-tunnel Delta Conveyance.
The following statement can be attributed to Michael Quigley, Co-Chair of Californians for Water Security:
“The Governor’s Water Resilience Portfolio establishes a comprehensive vision for preparing California for future challenges to our water supply. We strongly support the Portfolio’s emphasis on modernizing our aging water distribution infrastructure by moving forward with the Governor’s Delta Conveyance project. It will protect the water supply for essential two-thirds of Californians from the very real risk of earthquakes, more extreme floods, prolonged droughts and sea level rise. This project is needed to protect and enhance our state’s water security into the future. We will continue to support the Administration to push this project forward.”
CWS supports a Delta Conveyance project that would:
- Protect water security for two-thirds of the state. Without action, water supplies through our main distribution infrastructure will continue to decrease.
- Improve the reliability and security of our water system by fixing aging infrastructure using the most innovative technologies and engineering practices.
- Protect water supplies from earthquakes, floods and natural disasters by delivering them through a modern water pipeline, rather than solely through today’s deteriorating levee system.
- Prepare for the impacts of climate change by improving our ability to move and store water to account for extreme swings in drought and flood and to protect against salinity caused by sea-level rise.
- Restore habitats and more natural water flows above ground in rivers and streams in order to reduce impacts on endangered fish and other wildlife.
- Serve as a critical component of a comprehensive water portfolio.
For more information, please visit: www.watersecurityca.com
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