Decades of groundwater depletion mean hard choices ahead for states (2022)
csgmidwest.org

... On a recent visit to the western Kansas town of Garden City, Burke Griggs asked local leaders a question that may have first sounded like a joke. "Where do you plan on moving Garden City in 50 years?" asked Griggs, a leading expert on water law.

He was deadly serious, though, about a problem that the Washburn School of Law professor says a growing number of communities will face in the coming years and decades without shifts in how the state manages, allocates and conserves its resources, particularly groundwater. ...

California Passes Multi-Billion-Dollar Bond to Build a More Resilient Water System (2014)
www.ucsusa.org

... California voters yesterday approved a $7.5 billion water bond (Proposition 1), which will fund expanded water storage, water treatment and recycling projects as well as the restoration of diminished waterways.

The measure was passed during a record drought that has highlighted the weaknesses of California's current water management system and the need to prepare for drier conditions in the future.

A total of $2.7 billion of the bond funds is dedicated to finance new water storage projects such as dams, reservoirs or replenishing groundwater reserves. Over the coming months, the California Water Commission will closely examine scientific evidence and economic factors to determine what types of storage projects provide the greatest "public benefit." ...

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Three Years on, How California Is Spending Its $7.5 Billion Water Bond (2017)
deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org

... They found that about 80 percent of the proposition's money has been appropriated, and they broke down the funding in a recent PPIC blog post. ... [good graphic in the article]

In 2014 Californians approved Proposition 1. Ellen Hanak at the Public Policy Institute of California breaks down how much of that $7.5 billion has been appropriated so far and what that means for future water spending.

Three years ago, California voters passed Proposition 1, a bond that provided $7.12 billion for water projects and reallocated another $425 million. The funds had to be split among seven categories: safe drinking water, water storage, flood management, water recycling, drought preparedness, ecosystem and watershed protection and groundwater sustainability.

Ellen Hanak and Jelena Jezdimirovic at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) dove into the numbers to see how the proposition money has been spent throughout the state.

They found that about 80 percent of the proposition's money has been appropriated, and they broke down the funding in a recent PPIC blog post.

(Courtesy of the PPIC)

Water Deeply spoke with Hanak, director of the PPIC Water Policy Center, about the Proposition 1 funding, what it tells us about water projects in California and about legislative priorities in 2018.

Water Deeply: How does this rate of spending compare to past water bond spending?

Ellen Hanak, director of the PPIC Water Policy Center, has been studying the appropriation of money for California's 2014 water bond. (Courtesy of the PPIC)

Ellen Hanak: This is about the typical pace of spending. Sometimes we'd like to see the money get out the door quicker or get frustrated that a bond passes and it doesn't get all spent right away, but there is a whole process within each category to develop the specific details. And then when the calls go out, people have a bit of time to respond, there's a judging process, an awards process and that doesn't all happen overnight. ...

Yeah, I guess my first question would be ... does this Act apply to Los Angeles, or the more northern areas of California?