Jerry Brown, California spending $1 billion in drought aid on flood prevention, recycling

Gov. Jerry Brown and top lawmakers from both parties announced Thursday a $1-billion plan to deal with California’s persistent drought, describing the legislation as a mix of short-term relief and support for long-term water projects.

“This is a struggle,” Brown said at a Capitol news conference. “Something we’re going to have to live with. For how long, we’re not sure.”

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Millions of dollars would be spent faster than previously scheduled to provide food assistance and emergency drinking water in hard-hit communities. Additional money would go to wildlife preservation.

The bulk of the legislation would fund infrastructure initiatives that might not be completed for years.

The proposal includes $272.7 million from the $7.5-billion water bond approved by voters last year for projects such as water recycling and desalination.

An additional $660 million would go to flood-control projects, funded with a bond measure approved by voters a decade ago and scheduled to expire next year.

Asked how spending money on flood prevention would help the drought, the governor warned of “extreme weather events” caused by climate change.

“And with extreme weather events, you get drought. And then all of a sudden, when you’re all focused on drought, you can get massive storms that flood through these channels and overflow and cause havoc,” he said as a NASA expert warned of what the next year will hold.

Last week, the federal government pledged $19.9 million in emergency funding for the Central Valley Project, a massive conveyance system that delivers water to many of the state’s farmers. The money will be used to monitor salinity in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, assess the vulnerability of endangered species, and ensure that the right amount of water is being pumped through the system at the right time.

This week, the State Water Resources Control Board voted to ban restaurants from serving water unless customers ask for it, in addition to requiring hotels to provide signs in rooms telling guests that they have the option of choosing not to have towels and linens washed daily.

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