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Public private partnership may be the way to fund Salton Sea restoration efforts

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 3, 2008 at 4:36 am

From MyDesert.com, this commentary, written by Brian Nestande, government affairs consultant and a candidate for the 64th State Assembly District:

Gov. Schwarzenegger recently spoke of his initiative to build public/private partnerships to help improve California’s infrastructure.

Locally, we have an opportunity in the Coachella Valley to initiate our own public/ private partnership to better our entire region and restore the Salton Sea. The project has the potential to enhance our environment and improve our local economy for generations to come. I am committed to help bring together the necessary representatives from the private sector and government agencies in order to begin the process of restoration of the Sea.

The effort to restore the Salton Sea is floundering. The future of the Sea leaves us with few options as water levels continue to decrease. The sea will ultimately become either a large sump turning into a dust bowl or a vibrant eco-system with reasonable residential and tourist industry development with fantastic recreational opportunities.

Noting that the nearly $9 billion restoration plan is unlikely to be funded, and current budget woes don’t make any money look very forthcoming, Mr. Nestande says the answer is in public-private partnerships, much like Schwarzenegger has been looking at for other state projects:

In utilizing a public private partnership, we must first design a project which is financially feasible through local bonding and private investment. By creating self-contained lakes in the North and South part of the Sea, (the size of the lakes should be determined by financing which is provable) we can have recreational lakes within 5-7 years. Engineering and financial studies showed that one of the proposed lakes alone would be four times larger than Big Bear Lake and can be built in the north part of the sea for less than 500 million dollars.