Media Release: Restore the Delta Praises Federal Investments in California Water

For Immediate Release: June 15, 2016
Contact:
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, 209-479-2053, barbara@restorethedelta.org

Restore the Delta Praises Federal Investments in California Water
DOI Announces $30M Water Reuse and Reclamation Projects
Stockton, CA – Restore the Delta today praised an announcement by the Department of the Interior that $30 million will be invested in water reuse and reclamation projects across the state of California.
The announcement comes as Deputy Secretary of the Interior Michael L. Connor comes to California to attend meetings regarding the San Francisco Bay-Delta.
“These are the exactly kinds of investments we have been calling for as California enters our fifth year of drought,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “Rather than waste $15 billion on building the Delta Tunnels to move water to corporations growing nuts for Asia, these projects that actually create ‘new’ water for cities and rural Californians. Investing in drought-resistant water supplies builds regional water sustainability and can reduce water exports from the over-pumped, San Francisco Bay-Delta, an ecosystem on the brink of collapse due to lack of flowing fresh water.”
The projects will be funded under the Title XVI, part of the Department of the Interior’s implementation of the June 2013 Climate Action Plan “Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change.”
The funded projects include:
City of Corona Water Recycling and Reuse Project, Corona Comprehensive Reclaimed Water Conversion, Phase 1 – $4 million
San Diego Area Water Reclamation Program, Pure Water San Diego Program – $5 million
Eastern Municipal Water District Recycled Water System, Recycled Water System Pressurized and Expansion Project – $1,222,164
Lower Chino Dairy Area Desalination and Reclamation Project, Chino Desalter Phase 3 Expansion Project – $7.2 million
San Diego Area Water Reclamation Program, Padre Dam Water Recycling Facilities – Phase 1 Expansion – $4.5 million
Sonoma County Water Agency, North Bay Water Reuse Program – $4,706,150
San Diego Area Water Reclamation Program, Sweetwater Authority Water Reclamation Project – $3.7 million
Learn more about these projects.
Read the report “A Sustainable Water Plan for California” (Environmental Water Caucus, September 2015)