Voters OK’d $2.7 billion for new reservoirs. Critics say California won’t spend it
It’s a tantalizing pot of money, $2.7 billion for new dams and reservoirs approved by California voters during the worst of the drought.
But is the state willing to spend it?
The California Water Commission, the obscure state agency in charge of allocating the money, stunned the California water world recently by giving a decidedly lukewarm response to the 11 applications it received for funding. Farm irrigation districts and municipal water agencies applying for the money fear that the commission has raised the bar so high that few if any reservoir projects will qualify for the dollars.
“The thing that probably worries me the most is, we don’t want the babies thrown out with the bathwater by the California Water Commission,” said Tim Quinn of the Association of California Water Agencies.
