Water system to get federal stimulus funds

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

The state’s sagging water infrastructure will get a boost from the $260 million in federal stimulus funds that target a number of projects important to California agriculture. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, flanked by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state and federal officials, said the current drought is a “stark reminder that it’s time to modernize California’s water infrastructure.”

He said there will be some hard choices ahead, but “it’s time for the federal government to re-engage in full partnership to (build) a 21st-century water system for California.”

The funding assistance, which comes as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was announced last week in Rancho Cordova after officials took an aerial tour of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The tour included a discussion of challenges California faces because of its inadequate water system.

“The human suffering here (due to drought and judicial decisions) is all too real,” Salazar said. “Farmers are not able to plant. Workers in many communities and counties with unemployment rates of 30 and 40 percent are also now without jobs because there are no crops to harvest and schools are closing as families move away.”

Schwarzenegger told a press conference after the tour, “California’s water system is in crisis, and our future economic growth and prosperity depends on a water system that provides clean, reliable and sustainable water to our people, our farms and our businesses. These recovery act economic stimulus funds will create jobs and provide critical drought relief, helping to shield our water-dependent economy from disaster.”

Read more from the California Farm Bureau Federation by clicking here.

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