Bigelow’s Water Bond Faces Competition

Sacramento, CA — A water bond introduced by Assemblyman Frank Bigelow, and two other competing bonds, have passed through an Assembly committee.

Bigelow’s $7.9 billion water bond is co-authored by Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway. It calls for $3 billion in additional water storage, $1 billion to improve groundwater quality, $1.5 billion for Delta sustainability, $1.05 billion for water recycling projects and $1.19 billion for regional water supply reliability projects.

The other two competing water bonds are authored by Democrats Henry Perea and Anthony Rendon.

Rendon’s bond is around $8 billion, and includes $1.5 billion for watershed improvements, $1 billion for water quality improvements, $1 billion for water recycling projects and $2.5 billion for additional above and below ground storage.

Perea’s $9.25 billion bond calls for $3 billion in water storage infrastructure, $2.25 billion for Delta sustainability, $1.5 billion to protect watersheds and $1.5 billion for Climate Change Preparedness.

Bigelow expects the final water bond to be some type of combination of the three competing measures.