Water bond that could repair key canal opposed by more newspapers
October 13,2018-
This week the influential LA Times came out against Prop 3, the water bond that would issue $8.877 billion in general obligation bonds for water-related infrastructure and environmental projects. Included in a list of projects the measure would address is $750 million to repair the sinking Friant Kern Canal in the Central Valley.
The LA Times now joins the SF Chronicle,The San Diego Union ,the San Jose Mercury News and the Sacramento Bee in opposition, the state’s larger papers.
Backing Prop 3 is the Fresno Bee, where the canal originates.Strongly backed by agriculture, Prop 3 also offers funds for groundwater recharge, wildlife enhancement and for disadvantaged communities who lack clean drinking water.
The Fresno Bee is joined by Senator Dianne Feinstein and the California Wildlife Foundation in support.”The Bee strongly recommends approval because of how Proposition 3 would directly benefit the Valley. Fixing the Friant-Kern Canal, improving Sierra watersheds and getting clean water to Valley communities in a broad sweep, as this measure would do, is a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
Press reports say that the 150-mile Friant-Kern Canal in the San Joaquin Valley is sinking as the valley floor collapses because of subsidence, the result of excessive groundwater pumping. The canal has lost half of its capacity, and will cost at least $350 million to fix.
“Absent this action, almost one-third of the land currently farmed locally could very well go out of production,” Assemblyman Jim Patterson said. “It will devastate our economy. It will kill jobs, and it will put local services in deep jeopardy.”
Proposition 3 requires a simple majority to pass in November. July polling from the Public Policy Institute of California indicated 58 percent of likely voters surveyed would support the new water bond.
But as more newspaper find fault with the measure, poll numbers may be sinking too.
This week the Times said key water infrastructure repairs shouldn’t be paid for by the general public even though there are parts of the bond they can support.As for the canal and the repairs: “… they need to be fixed by their owners, operators and beneficiaries, not by the public at large. They are part of the Central Valley Project, a federal irrigation program, and the federal government — and the farmers — should be spearheading the repairs and paying the bulk of the cost.”