Governor Brown addresses water, drought in State of the State address

Yesterday, Governor Brown addressed Californians to give them an update on the health of the state as a whole. Brown addressed two main areas for concern: water and infrastructure.

“In this year’s budget, I am proposing that we use $2 billion of our temporary surplus on one-time investments to repair and replace aging infrastructures,” Brown said. “Neglecting what we have built over many years and letting it further deteriorate makes no sense and will just pile up costs in the long run.”

Brown’s plan for addressing California’s water crisis includes:

• Enacting the California Water Action Plan he proposed in January 2014, which would:
• Empower local water agencies to manage and monitor their groundwater based on the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
• Make conservation a way of life in California by implementing conservation targets.
• Protect and restore ecosystems in the Delta
• Prepare for dry periods.
• Expand water storage capacity.
• Increase flood protection.
• Increase operational and regulatory efficiency.
• Identify sustainable and integrated financing opportunities.
• Provide assistance to disadvantaged communities to ensure affective conservation.
• Increase the use of recycled water.
• Recover populations of threatened and engaged Species in the Delta.
• Improve water supply reliability by implementing California Water Fix, the twin tunnels that move water from the Delta to the San Joaquin Valley.

According to Brown, California’s infrastructure needs $77 billion in repairs and “at some point, sooner rather than later, we have to bite the bullet and enact new fees and taxes for this purpose.”