Valley Ag groups tout water bond

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Now that Governor Brown has signed a $7.5 billion water bond for the November ballot, work has begun on the push to get it passed.

Proposition 1 - the water bond - aims to increase the state's water supply and improve its eco-systems. Valley Ag leaders will spearhead the campaign they believe will be successful.

The impact of a severe drought helped spur a near unanimous vote in the Senate and Assembly on the water bond.

Valley Ag leaders were most excited about money that would go towards building a reservoir at Temperance Flat upstream from Millerton Lake. During wet years more runoff could be captured.

Ryan Jacobsen of the Fresno County Farm Bureau explained, "The largest reservoir that we have is the snowpack up in the Sierra Nevada but that snowmelt as we all know can come very quickly and if we don't have the buckets to capture it, it flows straight out to the ocean."

Many wells have gone dry with so many farmers pumping groundwater to irrigate.

Barry Bedwell of the California Fresh Fruit Association said Temperance Flat would help alleviate those problems.

Bedwell said, "When you look at it and the ability to distribute water so that you can recharge those aquifers is really the true way to sustainability."

The bond allots $2.7 billion for above ground water storage projects including another reservoir in Northern California.

Republican assemblywoman Connie Conway of Tulare said, "We felt this was an opportunity for real storage and real water but that also takes real money."

But environmental groups have raised concern over the projects. Valley Ag groups will play a big part in the push to pass Proposition 1. Bedwell was encouraged to see politicians actually agree on something.

"When you look at those numbers and see 37-0 in the Senate and see 77-2 in the Assembly that is a bipartisan vote on a major issue that you haven't seen in a long, long time," explained Bedwell.

The Valley could also tap into the 700 million dollars in the water bond set aside for recycling projects.