NATURAL RESOURCES SEC. LAIRD BRIEFS MEMBERS ON KEY WATER ISSUES

Members of the Bay Area Council Water Committee were briefed last week by state Natural Resources Secretary John Laird on the latest details of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The discussion, led by Water Committee Chair Jim Levine, Managing Partner of Montezuma Wetlands LLC, at our Sacramento office, provided members an inside look at the scope, goals, and calendar of the state’s most ambitious habitat restoration and water conveyance project in a generation. However, BDCP alone won’t solve California’s water crisis, and there is continuing debate in Sacramento about reworking an $11.14 billion statewide bond measure that the Legislature had been approved for the 2014 ballot to help pay for it and other projects. Committee members also discussed how additional efficiency and reuse measures, along with improvements in groundwater and regional management structures represent a cost-effective way to add potentially millions of additional acre feet to the state’s overall supply. The Committee was also briefed on developing plans to restore thousands of acres of bay wetlands. To engage in our water policy work, contact Policy Manager Adrian Covert.