Kings County Farm Bureau donates $25,000 to Water Priorities Initiative

The board of directors had already decided to support the initiative, but voted during their March 15 meeting to take their support a step further with a monetary donation. The California Water 4 All initiative aims to redirect high-speed rail funding to water storage projects.  

"As we enter a fifth year of drought, it's clear to the board that redirecting up to $8 billion of unissued high-speed rail bonds to building water storage and supply projects statewide is a far better use of this money," said KCFB President Josh Bettencourt. "We must find a way to protect and increase the state's water supply, and the board feels that this measure provides reasonable solutions for correcting the current deficiencies."

Additionally, the measure proposes to significantly increase the amount of surface water available, construct local surface water facilities, support specific shovel-ready state reservoir projects, recharge groundwater, modernize existing surface and groundwater storage facilities and create jobs.

"The passage of this initiative does not take away from what we have, but improves upon our water programs and systems for the good of all - people, food-production and the environment - at no additional cost to taxpayers," said Aubrey Bettencourt, executive director of the California Water Alliance, the group sponsoring the measure. "The alternative is more of the same: rationing, rising water prices, zero allocations, more restrictions and regulations, fallowed fields, jobs lost and failure."

In order for the measure to qualify for the November ballot, registered voters must show their support by signing the petition.  To assist in this process, KCFB is collecting signatures at its office, located at 870 Greenfield Ave. in Hanford. Once the required signatures have been gathered, KCFB will take an active role in promoting the measure's benefits to voters in and around Kings County, encouraging them to vote for it in November.