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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

The Valley’s Critical Water Needs

In 2013, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced an ambitious groundwater treatment program for the contaminated San Fernando Basin. Currently, the department can only pump about half the water it holds rights to in the San Fernando Basin due to the plume of toxic chemicals under the basin. It is estimated that within five to eight years, the plume will increase in density to the point where the basin wells will be completely inoperable. Given that Los Angeles currently receives, on average, only 11 percent of its water from local groundwater resources, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand how important it is that we restore this prized jewel, located right here in the San Fernando Valley. Restoring the San Fernando Basin is a no brainer; from providing more storage for recycled water and captured storm water to simply yielding safer groundwater, the benefits for regional water reliance are huge and provide us with an opportunity to depend less in the future on imported water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the Colorado River. Providing a larger context for this issue, it is important to note that the 2013 calendar year was California’s driest in more than a century. With a declared state of emergency, fines for wasting water have been authorized, state officials are prepping for possible water shortages, some restaurants are no longer serving water automatically, and for the first time in more than a decade, drought or water supply has surpassed air pollution as Californians’ top environmental concern, according to a Public Policy Institute of California survey. Putting partisan politics aside, the Legislature came together on a $7.55 billion bond measure to ensure such a treatment program has a chance of becoming a reality. The final word on Proposition 1 is in voters’ hands this November 4. Business leaders and political leaders alike have determined that there is simply no other investment tax payers can make that is capable of reducing our future dependence on imported water more than fixing the contaminated groundwater in the San Fernando Valley. With an initial investment of $600 million to $900 million and an estimated completion date set for 2022, we have to realize that we will either shoulder these costs through passage of the Prop 1, or we will see significant cost increases for water for businesses and residents alike. BizFed’s vast alliance of more than 120 business networks representing more than 265,000 businesses and more than 3 million employees across L.A. County established a list of principles and elements that are incorporated in Prop 1. They include funding for groundwater remediation and storage projects, Bay Delta ecosystem restoration protection and development of local and regional supplies – from water recycling and desalinization to storm water and urban runoff capture and treatment. In July, the BizFed Institute convened a public forum at Woodbury University in Burbank that drew more than 150 business, community and opinion leaders to engage on the complex challenges and opportunities around securing safe, reliable sources of clean water to sustain life and business in Southern California. It was here that members of the Arid Land Institute warned that drier climates are only expected to get drier in the future, meaning policy barriers to considering different uses of water must change – including rejecting the aversion to using, reusing and recovering storm water and rainwater. Time is running out. This November voters will have the opportunity to shape not only the future of our water supply, but a major piece of our local economy by casting a vote in support of Prop 1. I have been pleased to see environmentalists, political leaders from both sides of the isle, business leaders, and residents of California coalesce in the wake of a very important moment in California history and now it is the voters’ turn to do the same. Tracy Rafter is founding chief executive of BizFed, a grassroots alliance of 128 business groups representing more than 268,000 companies that employ nearly 3 million people in L.A. County.

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