AB 1585, as amended, Alejo. Monterey County Water Resources Agency: Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio.
Existing law establishes the Monterey County Water Resources Agency as a flood control and water agency within the County of Monterey. Existing law authorizes the agency to award a design-build contract for the combined design and construction of a project to connect Lake San Antonio, located in the County of Monterey, and Lake Nacimiento, located in the County of San Luis Obispo, with an underground tunnel or pipeline for the purpose of maximizing water storage, supply, and groundwater recharge.
This bill would appropriatebegin delete $25,000,000end deletebegin insert $10,000,000end insert frombegin delete an unspecified sourceend deletebegin insert
the General Fundend insert tobegin insert the Department of Water Resources and would require the department to grant the $10,000,000 toend insert the agency for the purpose of constructing a water conveyance tunnel between Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio and spillway modifications at Lake San Antonio, as specified.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Monterey County Water Resources Agency.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
2(a) Over the past four years, California has grappled with one
3of the worst ongoing droughts in the state’s history.
4(b) The state is riddled with water supply and water quality
5challenges posed by the relentless drought and is now facing
6weather forecasts of one of the most powerful El Niño storms ever
7recorded.
8(c) A major flood event in California has the potential to
9devastate communities and regional agriculture-based economies
10and seriously impact the state’s economy.
11(d) Inbegin insert the County ofend insert Montereybegin delete Countyend delete alone, agriculture
12generatesbegin delete eight billion one hundred twenty million dollars begin insert end insertbegin insert$8,120,000,000end insert into the local economy and
13($8,120,000,000)end delete
14supports more than 53,500 jobs. An additional 20,352 jobs are
15created as an indirect result of the industry.
16(e) The Monterey County Water Resources Agency manages
17Lake
Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio, two reservoirs that supply
18water for consumption and groundwater recharge and provide
19flood management, prevention of saltwater intrusion, and recreation
20in the Salinas Valley.
21(f) Lake Nacimiento’s watershed fills its reservoir nearly three
22times faster than Lake San Antonio’s watershed fills its reservoir,
23often causing water in Lake Nacimiento to exceed safe capacity
24and overflow from the spillway into the Salinas River, even when
25Lake San Antonio still has available storage capacity.
26(g) The Monterey County Water Resources Agency is planning
27to improve this situation and maximize the water supply availability
P3 1and flood control benefits for Zone 2C by doing both of the
2following:
3(1) By constructing a tunnel or pipeline between Lake
4Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio that has the potential to reduce
5water overflow events by 60 percent.
6(2) By constructing spillway modifications at Lake San Antonio
7to manage flood control and increase storage by approximately
860,000 acre-feet.
9
(h) These two projects will mitigate the impact of the drought
10and improve the economic viability of the Salinas Valley, the
11environmental sustainability of the region, and agricultural
12production.
13(i) The Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio region scores
1440 percent to 50 percent as a disadvantaged community under
15CalEnviroScreen.
16(j) Given the Salinas Valley’s economic contribution to the
17
state’s agricultural economy and the stress the El Niño storms will
18put on the region, the Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio
19areas are considered distressed communities and therefore are a
20priority for state funding.
begin deleteTwenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) end deletebegin insertTen million
22dollars ($10,000,000) end insertfrombegin delete ____end deletebegin insert the General Fundend insert is hereby
23appropriated tobegin insert the Department of Water Resources, who shall
24grant the ten million dollars ($10,000,000) toend insert the Monterey County
25Water Resources Agency for the purpose of
constructing, in
26accordance with the design-build process authorized by Section
2711.1 of the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Act
28(Chapter 1159 of the Statutes of 1990, as amended by Chapter 865
29of the Statutes of 2014), both of the following in order to maximize
30water storage, water supply, flood management, and groundwater
31recharge atbegin delete the lakes,end deletebegin insert Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio,end insert
32 within the Salinas River groundwater basin, and the Salinas Valley:
33(a) A water conveyance tunnel between Lake Nacimiento and
34Lake San Antonio.
35(b) Spillway modifications at Lake San Antonio to increase
36storage by approximately
60,000 acre-feet.
The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
38is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
39within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
40Constitution because of the emergency circumstances of the
P4 1ongoing drought and the benefits these projects involving Lake
2Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio, managed by the Monterey
3County Water Resources Agency, will provide to the region.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
5immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
6the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
7immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
8In order to responsibly store water during California’s prolonged
9drought, to protect the Salinas Valley from flooding, and to protect
10water supply, water quality, distressed communities, and urban
11and rural property and structures during a historic El Niño weather
12pattern, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
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