California cannot afford to keep wasting opportunities to capture and store water when it’s available. Yet our outdated permitting system makes building essential water infrastructure unnecessarily slow, expensive and difficult.
Consider Sites Reservoir, which would provide approximately 1.5 million acre-feet of additional water storage. Its environmental review took six years, and the project is still navigating final permits. Meanwhile, its estimated cost has climbed from $3.9 billion in 2021 dollars to as much as $6.8 billion in 2025 dollars.
Every year of delay means higher costs for water providers, farmers and ultimately the families who depend on reliable, affordable water and food. Proposition 45 would help accelerate reservoirs, groundwater recharge, water recycling and other essential infrastructure by establishing enforceable permitting timelines while maintaining strong water quality and environmental protections.
Reliable water supplies are essential to California’s farms, communities and economy. We can’t afford another decade of delays. Vote yes on Prop 45.
Norm Groot
Executive Director, Monterey County Farm Bureau
