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STAFF REPORT
AGENDA ITEM: Resolution Supporting the Placement of a $750,000,000 Water Bond on the November Ballot.
MEETING DATE: June 5, 2018
PREPARED BY: Filomena Arredondo, Sr. Admin Analyst
REVIEWED BY: Jose Antonio Ramirez, City Manager
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution 2018-_, supporting the placement of a $750,000,000 Water Bond on the November ballot.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
The initiative will authorize the sale of $750,000,000 in bonds to provide funding to repair the Friant Kern Canal and provide millions in funding for construction of new groundwater recharge facilities as well as the ability to replenish groundwater. In addition, the Bond will provide safe drinking water to the San Joaquin Valley. Cities are being asked to adopt resolutions in support of the Water Bond.
California, along with many parts of the nation, has experienced drought for several years. In conjunction with the drought, the southern San Joaquin Valley has for decades been threatened with the depletion of groundwater due to overdraft. The Friant-Kern Canal serves more than a million acres in Fresno, Tulare and Kern Counties which make up much of the San Joaquin Valley. Drought conditions have contributed to the subsidence of the canal in some places and, as a result, it can only deliver 40% of the water the canal was constructed to carry.
Regrettably, in 2016 alone, enough water to irrigate 100,000 acres of land flowed into the ocean because of the subsidence of the Friant-Kern Canal and its inability to carry the water to farmland and recharge basins, as many once productive agricultural fields lay fallow. The initiative is vital to the water economic health of the valley. In addition, and as importantly, safe drinking water is an issue that the San Joaquin Valley has been facing for several years and the Bond initiative would help remedy the issue and also provide wastewater disposal systems to many valley communities.
The Friant Water Authority, in conjunction with Dr. Gerald Meral, former Deputy Director of the California Department of Water Resources and proponent of the Water Bond initiative, have requested that every elected official, city, county, and water district in the southern San Joaquin Valley adopt a resolution endorsing the Bond initiative.
If successful, the initiative will authorize the sale of $750,000,000 in bonds and amend the California Water Code by adding Division 38 entitled “Water Supply and Water Quality Act of 2018.” The Division will govern how bond proceeds will be used to provide for the water needs of the San Joaquin Valley. The Bond, if successful, will fund repairs to the Friant-Kern Canal and it will fund projects to provide new groundwater recharge facilities to replenish our groundwater, and provide safe drinking water for the southern San Joaquin Valley.
RESOLUTION NO. 2018-
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LIVINGSTON ENDORSING THE NOVEMBER 2018 WATER BOND
WHEREAS, in our frequently very dry state, our high-tech, agricultural and urbanized economy relies on an uninterrupted and high-quality water supply, however, California’s recent historic drought raises serious questions about the long-term reliability of our current water supplies, unless addressed, will only continue to get worse and further adversely affect agriculture and those local communities, including disadvantaged communities, who largely rely on groundwater to serve their citizens; and
WHEREAS, a ballot initiative has been drafted that would authorize the sale of bonds and add a new division 38 to the California Water Code entitled the “Water Supply and Water Quality Act of 2018” which would govern how the proceeds of the bonds would be used to provide for the water needs of people, agriculture and the environment; and
WHEREAS, the water bond contains funds to implement safe drinking water and to some extent the operation of those systems, increased capacity to convey water resulting in greater groundwater recharge and improved conveyance and utilization of floodwaters for use in drought years; help water agencies implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, and providing wastewater disposal systems to many communities in the San Joaquin Valley; and
WHEREAS, if approved by voters, the measure would appropriate from the bonds issued and sold the sum of seven hundred fifty million dollars ($750,000,000) is appropriated from the Fund to the State board for expenditures, grants, and loans to improve water quality or help provide clean, safe, and reliable drinking water to all Californians. The sum of six hundred seventy-five million dollars ($675,000,000) is appropriated from the Fund to the department for projects and programs that support sustainable groundwater management. The sum of four hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) is appropriated from the Fund to the State board to award grants and loans to eligible entities on a competitive basis for wastewater recycling projects.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Livingston endorses the November Water Bond, and urges voters living in the San Joaquin Valley to support it.
Passed and adopted this 5th day of June, 2018, by the following vote: AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
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Jim Soria, Mayor
of the City of Livingston
ATTEST:
I, hereby, certify that the foregoing resolution was regularly introduced, passed, and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Livingston this 5th day of June, 2018.
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Antonio Silva, City Clerk of the City of Livingston
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