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California Water Expert Weighs In On Senate Drought Bill

San Joaquin Valley Town Hall Lecture Series
Daniel Nelson recently retired as the Executive Director of the San Luis and Delta Mendota Water Authority, and still works for the group.

A new drought relief bill from Senator Dianne Feinstein is getting mixed reviews in the Valley, but at least one water expert says it's a a sign of progress. 

The long-awaited Senate bill provides for a lot of things, including funding for like desalination and more water storage. But the one thing it doesn’t do is mandate more pumping of water out of the Delta to store in places like San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos.  

Daniel Nelson recently retired as the Executive Director of the San Luis and Delta Mendota Water Authority, and still works for the group. He says the bill is a good first step. 

Nelson: “There are a lot of good things to try to move forward on infrastructure. I think if there’s been any criticism, I think it’s where the Senator herself said, it’s where we haven’t made more progress on some of the regulatory stuff.”

Despite this year’s rain and snow, Nelson says some farmers on the east and west sides of the valley could potentially get shut out again this year from water deliveries. But some farmers who have historic rights to water from the San Joaquin River, the so-called Exchange Contractors, could get strong deliveries. While that might not seem fair on the surface, Nelson says it’s the product of water rights that go back over a century, a system which he says doesn’t need an overhaul. 

Nelson: “If nothing else, we know and we understand the rules of the game. Whereas if you start messing around with water rights, it would just cause so much uncertainty.”

Nelson spoke in Fresno Wednesday about the state’s water system as part of the San Joaquin Valley Town Hall lecture series. 

Joe Moore is the President and General Manager of KVPR / Valley Public Radio. He has led the station through major programming changes, the launch of KVPR Classical and the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado (2019), and won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting (2022).