CA Legislature Considering Two Bills to Improve Water Infrastructure for State Water Project

California is living the realities of climate change in real time. From catastrophic wildfires and unprecedented droughts to atmospheric river-driven floods and rising seas, we are feeling the impacts of climate change every day.

Whether it’s the Super El Niño brewing off the coast, Golden Mussels clogging our waterways, or the ongoing negotiations on the Colorado River watershed, California is grappling with myriad threats to our state’s water supplies – and residents are already feeling the impact. Without action, millions of Californians could see their water rates increase as the reliability of water deliveries decreases due to our aging infrastructure.

The State Water Project (SWP), consisting of 36 water facilities, 25 pumping plants, five hydroelectric power plants and approximately 700 miles of canals, tunnels and pipelines, is California’s main water distribution network, which supplies freshwater to 27 million Californians. On average, 33% of The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California‘s total water supply is transported through this network.

According to a 2024 report by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the SWP risks losing up to 23% of its delivery capacity over the next 20 years due to shifting flow patterns and extreme weather shifts, underscoring the need for California to invest in repairs and improvements to this system. A 23% decline in deliveries would equal enough water to supply over 1.7 million homes for a year.

Thankfully, the California Legislature has introduced two bills – AB 2215 (Calderon) and SB 872 (McNerney) – to protect the viability of our largest and most consequential estuary and ensure that the SWP has sufficient time to fully develop its water right to continue reliably delivering water in the face of our changing climate.

AB 2215, introduced by Assemblymember Calderon, would extend the SWP’s water rights permits to 2046, aligning them with existing public water agency contracts while allowing continued modernization of existing infrastructure — without authorizing new projects.

The Department of Water Resources submitted a petition to the State Water Board in 2009 to extend the SWP’s water rights in order to have more time to build the infrastructure and secure permits necessary to protect the system’s continued reliability. However, for reasons outside of the Department’s control, this application has gone unprocessed for 16 years. Without an approved time extension, the funding to improve and maintain the State Water Project is in jeopardy.

This prolonged delay hampers DWR’s ability to adapt to shifting precipitation patterns: more intense storms and faster snowmelt that produce sudden surges of water, but without the infrastructure to capture and store it, that water is lost during increasingly long, dry summers.

AB 2215 is a common-sense piece of legislation that would accelerate this administrative process, saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in staff time and water agencies significant time and money to just answer the question: was DWR diligent in pursuing the development of its full water rights. The approval of the time extension has no negative environmental impacts, saves public funds, and does not diminish opportunities for public participation.

While AB 2215 addresses the administrative timeline needed to modernize the SWP, SB 872, authored by Senator McNerney, seeks to address the deteriorating infrastructure that protects the San Joaquin Delta and the SWP’s conveyance infrastructure. SB 872 would allocate $300 million annually from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to strengthen levees in the Delta and repairing SWP canals damaged by subsidence in the Central Valley.

As land sinks, the physical alignment and capacity of canals and aqueducts are compromised, leading to inefficiencies, rising maintenance costs, and diminished performance of California’s water delivery systems. Land subsidence alone could reduce the delivery capacity of the SWP by up to 87% without additional infrastructure improvements and operational adaptations. Without repairs, water supplies will be reduced, meaning that there’s less to deliver to residents, farms, businesses, and for refilling our underground aquifers.

Similarly, the levees that protect the Delta – many of which were constructed in the 1800s — are in dire need of repair and reinforcement. The American Society of Civil Engineers’ most recent Infrastructure Report Card for California, our levees received a D+ grade. The report estimates the cost to repair the levees at nearly $60 billion to address flood management infrastructure and reinforce the levees, but the financial burden is too great for the local agencies to bear alone.

Addressing levee repairs and improvements will reduce the risk of flooding, the potential for water supply disruptions, environmental harm, economic disruptions, and costs associated with repairs by addressing deficiencies before they turn into emergency measures.

SB 872 is a direct climate investment. Committing to a durable, long-term funding gameplan for water conveyance subsidence repairs and Delta levees will ensure the state is contributing to a shared and coordinated investment to avoid further degradation of the State’s primary water delivery systems and reduce hardships for communities and ecosystems that depend on it.

We greatly appreciate the leadership of Senator McNerney and Assemblymember Calderon to secure California’s water future. If you are interested in learning more about the legislation and how you can support our efforts, visit Californians for Water Security or reach out to info@watersecurityca.com for more information.