The battle over California’s water may be entering a new phase as the state prepares to hand out $2.7 billion for additional water storage projects.
“Water storage” doesn’t necessarily mean big new dams, and will likely include projects that use California’s underground aquifers as reservoirs.
The most heated fights will continue to be over how much water is allocated to agriculture, which drinks up 70 percent of freshwater supplies across the West.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke visited California’s Don Pedro reservoir last week, saying, “I do believe part of the solution in California is more storage.”