Hollister
– Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke at the San Luis Reservoir on
Monday to push for a $5.9 billion plan he called crucial to
ensuring the state has an adequate water supply.
Hollister – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke at the San Luis Reservoir on Monday to push for a $5.9 billion plan he called crucial to ensuring the state has an adequate water supply.
“We don’t need another study to tell us California needs more water storage,” Schwarzenegger said.
The reservoir’s water storage level has been reduced to 25 percent of capacity due to the combination of a dry winter and reduced pumping to protect a threatened fish, the delta smelt, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, he noted.
“There is no better place in California to really illustrate the kind of water crisis that we have in California right now, because you look back there and you see those water marks in the back. You see where the water is supposed to be,” Schwarzenegger said.
Water imported from the San Luis Reservoir is used to irrigate farms throughout the state, including around 400 farms of 10 acres or more in San Benito County, San Benito County Water District Manager John Gregg has said. Due to low water levels there, the county’s imported water supply has declined by 50 percent, and the district plans to meet only 85 percent of agricultural water requests.
San Benito County Farm Bureau President George Bonacich told the Free Lance on Monday that local farmers are making plans to deal with the reduced water supply. Some farmers don’t have any alternatives to imported water, he said.
“We need new reservoirs,” Bonacich said.
Another dry season, Schwarzenegger said, could spell disaster.
“If we have another dry season like this, I would say that it will be catastrophic,” he said.
The governor is hoping to fund his plan – including money for new water storage facilities, restoration projects and conservation grants – by putting a multibillion-dollar bond measure on the ballot in 2008. Monday’s event kicked off a week of touring to support the bond.
Leaders of several state industries and interest groups also spoke Monday to express support for the plan.
“The agriculture industry supports (Schwarzenegger’s) efforts to meet the needs of both farms and the people of California,” said Steve Patricio, chairman of the Western Growers Association.
Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Council, said the 210 companies that belong to the council understand the importance of the governor’s water efforts.
“We know that Silicon Valley can only be a sustainable valley by embracing sweeping solutions like the one the governor has proposed today,” Guardino said.
Some environmental advocates have said conservation and water recycling are more important than Schwarzenegger’s projects, but the governor said Monday that conservation is not enough.
“This administration and everyone here loves conservation, but that is not the solution,” he said. “We practice it in our home. I don’t let my children take showers for longer than five minutes.”
