Oct 6, 2017   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Gov. Brown Meets with Metropolitan Board Members Prior to Important Vote to Support Modernization of State Water System

Heading into Metropolitan Water District’s once-in-a-generation vote next week on a state-federal plan to modernize California’s water system, Gov. Jerry Brown today addressed some members of the agency’s board of directors about the importance of California WaterFix.

Gov. Brown informally met with a number of MWD directors at Metropolitan’s Joseph Jensen Water Treatment Plant in Granada Hills in advance of the board’s deliberation next Tuesday, Oct. 10, as to whether to support California WaterFix.

Gov. Brown’s sentiments were echoed by Metropolitan Chairman Randy A. Record, who attended the meeting: “I applaud Gov. Brown for his strong support of California WaterFix. We face water reliability challenges in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta we can’t ignore such as the effects of climate change and a deteriorating environment harmful for fish.”

At next Tuesday’s meeting, Metropolitan’s board will consider approving the district’s 26 percent share of financing the California WaterFix project as well as moving forward on a governance structure to build and finance the about $17 billion project.

About 30 percent of the water that flows out of taps in Southern California comes from Northern California via the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But the Delta's delivery system is badly outdated, a problem compounded both by a declining ecosystem and 1,100-mile levee system that are increasingly vulnerable.

California WaterFix is a comprehensive solution proposed by state and federal agencies to ensure the state has a reliable water supply for many years to come. It would modernize the decades-old delivery system through the building of three new intakes in the northern Delta along with two tunnels to carry water to the existing aqueduct system in the southern Delta.

Note to editors: Video footage and digital photographs of the governor’s meeting are available upon request.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a state-established cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving nearly 19 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.