Prop. 3 borrows $8.9 billion

Yes: Spend on clean water, improve wildlife habitat

Flint, Mich., isn’t the only place where tap water is poisonous. Shockingly, more than 1 million California residents are exposed to unsafe tap water each year in our homes, schools and public buildings. Latino and lowincome communities are suffering the most.

At the same time, longer droughts and shrinking Sierra snowpack endanger the water supplies of millions more Californians, and threaten extinction for salmon and other wildlife. More extreme storms have exposed vulnerable old dams and canals that need maintenance to protect us from floods and deliver water to homes and farms.

It’s clear that we haven’t done enough to protect water supplies for public health, or dedicated enough clean water to rivers and wetlands for them to thrive in an era of rapid climate change.

Proposition 3 on the November ballot is the urgent investment we need to provide safe, clean water for people and wildlife throughout California. This state bond provides $750 million to get uncontaminated drinking water to disadvantaged communities suffering the most from pollution, supporting working families who depend on these water supplies for jobs and food.

Prop. 3 also funds urgent repairs to existing dams and canals to make them safe and efficient.

Even with those fixes, water delivery systems California built in the past century won’t be sufficient with lower snowfall and longer droughts. So Prop. 3 creates new, more reliable sources of clean drinking water by funding wastewater recycling, groundwater cleanup and recharge, and local conservation.

These smart water investments will make local communities more self-reliant and resilient to future droughts, without building new dams that harm the environment. In fact, Prop. 3 spends no money on new dams, canals or tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that would take more water away from rivers essential for fish and wildlife.

Prop. 3 includes more than $3 billion for state agencies and local conservancies to acquire and restore mountain watersheds and wetlands from the Sierras to the coast and throughout the Central Valley. Protecting watersheds upstream to absorb and retain rainfall will replenish groundwater supplies in wet years, reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, and increase crucial habitat for waterfowl and wildlife.

In San Francisco Bay alone, Prop. 3 would triple the pace of tidal marsh restoration that provides natural flood protection on the shoreline from sea-level rise and more extreme storms. And this bond invests more than $1 billion statewide to improve rivers and urban creeks, restore essential fish habitat and acquire water for salmon facing extinction.

It gives nature a fighting chance to survive more extreme weather events or an extended string of very dry years.

Nothing is more important than clean water for every Californian, but previous water and park bonds did not invest enough to ensure safe water supplies or protect our natural heritage for future generations. We’ve left too many Californians vulnerable to contaminated water, and put our environment and economy at even greater risk when the next drought arrives.

We must do more. Every voter should support Prop. 3 to ensure that our state’s people and wildlife, businesses and farms can count on safe, clean, reliable water supplies, even in dry years. Vote yes on Proposition 3.

David Lewis is the executive director of Save The Bay. Read more about Proposition 3 at http://www.waterbond.org.