This story originally appeared in The Center Square.
Approximately $158.2 million of bond money approved in 2024 will pay for projects in the State Water Project and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta levees, according to an announcement from state Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton.
The money was approved as part of the budget bill Assembly Bill 113, which passed the legislature in August and is on the governor’s desk. According to McNerney’s office, the funding comes from Proposition 4, which California voters passed in 2024. Voters approved the $10 billion bond measure, which lifted the state’s ban on using public funds for election campaigns, allowing cities, counties and the state to create publicly-funded campaign finance systems in the future, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Part of that money, $90.2 million, will go to paying for fortification of the Delta’s aging levees, while $68 million will pay for the State Water Project’s California Aqueduct and canals, according to a press release issued by McNerney’s office and Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City.
McNerney told The Center Square via email that California’s contentious history regarding water shows the battle over water in California has pitted the Northern part of the state against Southern California and environmental groups against water contractors. The bill was meant to put that to an end, he said.
“We put aside our differences and joined together to support vital projects that will protect California’s water and the Delta, while also benefitting the entire state,” McNerney wrote. “But we’re not done. This historic investment is just a down payment. In the years to come, we need to continue to protect California’s primary supply of freshwater.”
According to a 2025 report from the California Department of Water Resources, the State Water Project has suffered from underinvestment and deterioration. Current projections show that without ongoing expenditures to maintain the State Water Project, subsidence – or sinking of the ground because of underground water extractions – the California Aqueduct could cease to be able to carry water south of Fresno County by 2085.
The State Water Project supplies water to 27 million residents of the state and 750,000 acres of farmland, according to the Department of Water Resources. Climate change and the increasing frequency of droughts, floods, wildfires and sea level rise have all negatively impacted the State Water Project, the department’s report states.
The California Aqueduct is a 444-mile long canal that carries water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, according to the Water Education Foundation.
Wilson was unavailable for an interview, and her office sent The Center Square the Sept. 1 press release.
“Investments in California’s water infrastructure are important for protecting what communities and the state’s economy depend on every day,” Scott Berry, senior advisor on policy and external affairs at US Water Alliance, wrote to The Center Square on Monday. “With federal water programs like the State Revolving Funds set to expire this year, state and local investments will become even more critical to maintaining reliable water systems and avoiding more costly and disruptive infrastructure failures down the road.”
Several Republican and Democratic members of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee and the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee also did not respond to The Center Square in recent days.
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