California governor announces aggressive $8 billion plan to boost water supply OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
California Governor Gavin Newsom this week announced an aggressive new plan to address the state’s water shortage. The $8 Billion Strategy, Detailed in a 16 Pages documentaims to bolster California’s dwindling water supply.
With the burdens of global warming and historic drought showing no signs of slowing down, Newsom is looking to expand the state’s water supply.
“The science and the data lead us to now understand that by 2040 we will lose 10% of our water supply,” said Newson. said Thursday during a visit to a desalination plant. “As a result of that deeper understanding, we have a renewed sense of urgency to address this issue directly.”
Dead trembling Aspen trees line a shoreline extended by the very low water level at Grant Lake, California.
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The new plan, titled “California’s Water Supply Strategy, Adapting to a Hotter, Dryer Future,” highlights methods to raise water levels and offset water loss due to climate change. The four main goals outlined are to create storage for four million acre feet of rainwater, recycle and reuse 800,000 acre feet of wastewater per year by 2030, use more efficient water conservation techniques to release 500,000 acre feet of water , and desalinate more seawater.
“What we’re focusing on is creating more supply,” Newsom said. “What we focus on is creating more water. How can we use existing resources and be more resourceful in terms of progressive policies, and focus our energies on creating more water, to capture more water?”
In his press conference, Newsom also emphasized his frustration with the bureaucratic process, which often delays the implementation of climate plans like this.
“The time to get these damn projects is ridiculous, it’s absurd, it’s pretty comical,” Newsom said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters about a new water plan to adapt to warmer, drier conditions due to climate change. August 11, 2022.
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While the plan’s outline gives people a basic understanding of the methods the state would use to increase water supplies, critics such as the nonprofit environmental advocacy group Watching food and water said the plan never discusses how the biggest water-use violators in the state might cut spending.
“The plan makes no mention of curbing the state’s most intensive water users — Big Ag and Big Oil,” the Food & Water Watch wrote in a statement. pronunciation.
Research by the organization claims that California “could save as much as 82 million cubic meters of water each year by switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.”
The group added that Newsom’s plan relies heavily on controversial projects such as: desalination – a process that, according to Food & Water Watch, uses fossil fuels, endangers marine life and creates toxic brine that is difficult to dispose of.
“Frontline communities cannot afford desalination and neither can the environment,” Tomás Rebecchi, Food & Water Watch California organization manager, said in a statement. “And time and again, Californians have fought and won against these boondoggle projects. It’s time Newsom treated water as a human right, not a commodity to be traded for corporate profits.”
Newsom said Thursday he will work aggressively, “not waiting for voters,” to implement this plan.
“I’m excited about this plan,” the governor said. “I’m excited about the innovation we’re promoting in this plan, but more importantly, the deeper sense of urgency, a mindset of intentionality, a focus on real goals and real results, with timelines and resources associated with those timeframes.”
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