Cost of bringing clean drinking water to California communities estimated at $11.5 billion

As part of that ballot measure, they called for including $1 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure for communities and tribes.

Leaders of the groups wrote that “recent and proposed cuts to funding for such programs have prompted consensus that additional bond funding is necessary to ensure priority programs continue beyond this year.”

Jennifer Clary, California director for the group Clean Water Action, said: ”drinking water infrastructure isn’t a luxury item. Without these projects, thousands of Californians will continue to lack access to safe and clean drinking water.”

Clean water advocates have also voiced concerns as state officials have reviewed the costs of a program that provides household tanks and hauls water by truck to thousands of low-income families whose wells have gone dry.

More than 3,000 domestic wells have run dry throughout California since 2020, according to reports submitted to the state. Those with dry wells have started relying on water delivered by tanker trucks to fill their tanks, while also receiving bottled water.

Leaders of the nonprofit group Self-Help Enterprises, which manages the water-hauling effort, recently urged Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state leaders to reject proposals that would take away critical funding for the program. They wrote in a June 11 letter that taking away $17.5 million would “cut off access to water for more than 20,000 people who are still awaiting a permanent solution.”

The letter, which was first reported by the news site SJV Water, was also signed by leaders of other organizations, including the Community Water Center and Union of Concerned Scientists.

“The reversions of these funds will cut off access to water for more than 20,000 people who are still awaiting a permanent solution,” the groups said. “Cutting funding for such a crucial program would have devastating effects on rural and disadvantaged communities by immediately cutting them off from their sole source of water supply, and doing so with no warning.”

Leaders of some groups said later that the funding for the program has been restored.