Californians for a Fair Water Policy
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Contact: Steve Hopcraft 916/457-5546; steve@hopcraft.com; Twitter: @shopcraft
Prop. 1 Did Not Solve Our Water Challenge
Gov. Brown Must Abandon Delta Tunnels,
Focus on Sustainable, Regional Water Solutions
Sacramento, CA – Californians for Fair Water Policy, a statewide coalition of environmental, water conservation, fishing, farming, Native American and community organizations, today called for a new focus on sustainable water policies and for the governor to abandon his proposed Delta Tunnels project to export water from the Sacramento River.
“When Californians wake up today following the election, the water challenges we face are still huge and pressing,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “Now that the debate over Prop. 1 is behind us; it is time to look at sustainable solutions to our water challenges. Whether you supported or opposed Prop 1, we all agree that it will do nothing to address our current drought. So we need to face the fact that the State has overallocated up to 5 times more water than is normally available in our rivers and streams.”
“Proposition 1 will not solve our water crisis,” says Adam Scow, California Director of Food & Water Watch. “Its proponents sold the water bond as a way to protect California from future drought, but Prop 1 fails to address the real problems, especially the State’s poor management of our water resources. Governor Brown must balance California’s overstretched water budget and reduce allocations to water-wasting super-farms in the desert. Food & Water Watch will continue to work with allies to ensure that Prop 1’s voter-approved funds benefit the public interest, and do not promote corporate interests by building new dams and subsidizing excessive water transfers to unsustainable agribusiness operations.”
“Prop. 1 did not change any of these stubborn facts: the Delta has been overpumped for decades, and this cannot be sustained, and our salmon and other fisheries are on the verge of collapse,” said Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “The one thing that must be done if we’re going to stabilize the state’s water policies: balance water rights claims to actual water supplies.”
“The governor is still wedded to his Bay Delta Conservation Plan/Delta Tunnels project, which the EPA has said would violate the Clean Water Act,” said Bob Wright, Senior Counsel of Friends of the River. “The Delta Tunnels project is fatally flawed, and the governor should abandon it and instead promote sustainable water solutions.”
“We urge the governor to shift his concentration from the doomed Delta Tunnels project to large scale recycling, conservation, storm water capture, ground water clean up projects, and other new drought technologies that will provide local jobs and reduce reliance on imported water supplies,” said Conner Everts, Executive Director, Southern California Watershed Alliance. “Sustainable water programs are needed to safeguard California from inevitable future droughts.”