Sacramento, CA – The Department of the Interior announced an investment of $584.9 million for infrastructure repairs in fiscal year 2023 from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, otherwise known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Aging Infrastructure program, facilitated through the Bureau of Reclamation, provides funding for the significant amount of extraordinary maintenance needs that exist with aging infrastructure and provide resources to project beneficiaries and transferred works operators to proceed with projects that may have been stalled or delayed due to lack of funding. The funding announcement includes $50 million dollars to advance critical projects for the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and its 27 member agencies, including the Delta-Mendota Canal Subsidence Correction Project and the Jones Pumping Plant Control Panel Upgrade Project.
“We thank Reclamation for providing this funding to advance two projects that are critical to increasing water resilience for the Authority’s members and the farms, communities, and ecosystems they serve,” said Federico Barajas, Executive Director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. “The funding allows us to not only modernize the operations of the Jones Pumping Plant, but also to advance the Delta-Mendota Canal Subsidence Correction Project – a project that will restore the estimated 20 percent of the conveyance capacity that has been lost due to subsidence along the canal. This funding, paired with funding included in the last two state budgets and locally raised funds, will allow us to move forward to the next steps of the project.”
“The rainfall that California has experienced this year, after two years of incredibly dry conditions, reinforces how important the maintenance of our water conveyance systems is to long-term drought resilience. Our ability to convey and store water in times of plenty for use in times of scarcity is a critical component of improving long-term water resilience for Authority members. This funding will advance those efforts and demonstrates a federal commitment to continue to advance the local-state-federal partnership that is necessary to repair the foundational conveyance system that feeds California and the nation.”
The projects selected for funding today are critical to maintaining the ability to convey contracted water supplies to the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority member agencies, who provide water to over 1.2 million acres of irrigated agriculture in the San Joaquin, San Benito, and Santa Clara Valleys, drinking water for over 2.5 million Californians, and to nearly 135,000 acres of habitat of critical importance to endangered species and migratory waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway. The full list of 84 projects to be funded can be viewed here.
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