WATER

Flush the Water Bond!

Why Californians Should Oppose the Bond
on the November Ballot
Fact Sheet • March 2010

C alifornia’s budget is in crisis; vital education, health and public safety services are
on the chopping block. But this November, Governor Schwarzenegger and the state
Legislature will ask California voters to pass an $11.1 billion water bond loaded down
with special-interest projects. Instead of focusing on sustainable long-term water supply
and water quality policies, the bond would provide a massive subsidy to corporate
interests and wasteful and polluting technologies, including new dams and desalination.
It’s the wrong approach at the wrong time.

What’s Wrong with the Water Bond?

1. Corporations Win, Taxpayers Lose.

The bond is a raw deal for taxpayers. Bonds are loans
that the state must pay back with interest. That means
that over the next 30 years, the bond will suck nearly
$24 billion (the original $11.1 billion, plus interest)
from the state’s general fund at the expense of essential
services such as education, transportation, parks, police
and fire.

The bond prioritizes funding for dams and other storage

projects. Powerful corporate interests are already lobby-
ing for the money to be spent on dams— but although
they would use most of the water, they admit that they
cannot pay for it and expect taxpayers to foot the bill.

The bond opens the door to privatization of our water.

At the last minute, a provision was added to the bond that
lets private corporations own and profit from public water
projects. Taxpayers could take the hit twice: once to fi-
nance the bond, and again when corporations raise water
rates in order to make a profit on their new projects.

We can’t afford this mistake. As of March 2010, Cali-

fornia had a projected budget shortfall of nearly $13 bil-
lion for next year. Allocating money for new dams while
critical environmental programs and social services face
cuts is bad for our state and unfair to Californians strug-
gling in the current recession.

2. Bailout for Corporate Polluters.
The bond rewards bad water stewardship. After years
of polluting our ground and surface water with pes-
ticides, animal waste, industrial chemicals and other
contaminants, big businesses in California would get
more water handouts from the bond. Communities
without safe drinking water would be left in the lurch.
Less than 1 percent of bond funds are guaranteed to
make it to disadvantaged communities that need the
most help. That’s why groups like the Environmental
Justice Coalition for Water have come out against the
bond.
3. Kills Fish, Pollutes Our Rivers.
More dams means more environmental destruction.
The bond would provide $3 billion in funding to en-
large existing dams or construct new dams and other
water storage projects. California already has nearly
1,500 dams that divert water and threaten endangered
fish populations, including salmon. Pacific Coast
salmon populations are nearly extinct.
The bond also makes up to $1 billion of taxpayers’
money available for desalination, an expensive and
polluting process that removes salt from seawater.
Desalination plants could be wholly owned by private
corporations, which would then profit off the sale of
drinking water to consumers.
The bond doesn’t fund real solutions to California’s
water problems. Only 2 percent of bond funds are set
aside for conservation programs, the most cost-effective
way to improve the long-term sustainability of our
water resources. Groundwater cleanup and infrastruc-
ture improvements receive only a small fraction of total
bond funds.
What’s more, because the bond prioritizes funding for
dams, the water quality and conservation programs
wouldn’t receive bond funding until years after its pas-
sage. For this reason, environmental groups like Friends
of the River and the Sierra Club have come out against
the bond.
Help Stop the Bond and Demand
Better Water Policies!
Food & Water Watch and our coalition partners are
working hard to spread the word about this wasteful
bond. Join us to help defeat the bond in November
and advocate for water policies that benefit all
Californians!
There are lots of ways to contribute. We can help you
organize a house party or a film screening to raise
awareness about the issue. You can talk with local
organizations and congregations and ask them to
endorse the No on the Water Bond campaign. Join us
and volunteer at an event, where you’ll ask attendees
to sign a pledge to vote no on the water bond. Look
and listen for media coverage of water issues and
write a letter to the editor or call into a radio show and
spread the word!
For more information:
Bay Area:
Adam Scow, ascow@fwwatch.org
Central Valley:
Noelle Ferdon, nferdon@fwwatch.org
Los Angeles and Santa Barbara:
Renee Maas, rmaas@fwwatch.org
San Diego:
Corie Lopez, clopez@fwwatch.org
Visit our website:
www.foodandwaterwatch.org/no-water-bond
Phone: (415) 293-9917
Paid for by Consumer Advocates Against the Bond,
Sponsored by Food & Water Watch. FPPC ID#
1324966