{"id":315169,"date":"2026-05-14T09:27:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/315169\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T09:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:27:21","slug":"california-cap-and-invest-threatens-drinking-water-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/315169\/","title":{"rendered":"California cap-and-invest threatens drinking water funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rachel Becker<\/a>, CalMatters<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\""A\"
\n\t\t\t\tSherry Hunter shows the containers she uses to collect water for household use in her Allensworth home on Sept. 4, 2024. The community of Allensworth has been dealing with an ongoing issue of arsenic leaking into its wells, one of which consistently exceeds state health limits. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by CalMatters<\/a>. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

Seven years ago, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to bring safe and affordable drinking water to the state\u2019s most disadvantaged communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, Newsom celebrated the program\u2019s accomplishments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOver 1 million people that didn’t have access to clean, safe drinking water today have access to clean, safe drinking water,\u201d Newsom told a conference room<\/a> filled with California\u2019s water leaders, to a round of applause.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not saying that to impress you, but to impress upon you real progress. A lot more work to be done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that work could lose critical funding<\/a> as the Newsom administration overhauls its source: California\u2019s carbon market. The changes to the program\u2019s funding priorities and revenue threaten efforts to bring clean drinking water to schools, homes and communities across California.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that funding goes away,\u201d said Sherry Hunter, who has long battled<\/a> the arsenic leaching into the water supply in the historic Tulare County town of Allensworth, \u201cOh my god, I can\u2019t even imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Climate money for clean water<\/p>\n

A critical piece of California\u2019s clean water funding is linked to the state\u2019s carbon market, which sets a declining cap on greenhouse gas emissions that oil refineries, power plants and manufacturers can meet by buying and trading carbon credits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lawmakers tap this fund<\/a> for environmental efforts, like combatting unsafe drinking water in rural communities.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Newsom signed a law<\/a> that gave rise to the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience, or SAFER, drinking water program at the State Water Resources Control Board. The law called for funding it with $130 million a year from carbon market revenues through 2030.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It can be a risky source of funding, subject to the rise and fall of credit auctions. But the law<\/a> came with a promise: When the proceeds fell flat, the state\u2019s general fund would make up the rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the only pot of money that California draws on for its safe drinking water efforts, but it\u2019s the most versatile, paying for emergency and other types of assistance that bonds and more restrictive funding can\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Newsom and California lawmakers don\u2019t budget enough to provide bottled water for households and schools with dry or dangerous taps, this fund covers the costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When low-income communities can\u2019t pay for the technical expertise to manage their water systems or compete for grants needed to drill new wells and connect to safer water<\/a>, the safe and affordable drinking water fund can help bridge that gap.<\/p>\n

\""A\"Cases of water Sherry Hunter collects in her home in Allensworth on Sept.4, 2024. The community of Allensworth has been dealing with an ongoing issue of arsenic leaking into its wells, one of which consistently exceeds state health limits. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

Thousands of households and dozens of schools rely on this money for emergency supplies\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0like Hope Elementary School in Porterville, where the taps flow with elevated levels of nitrate. The contaminant is linked to cancers, pregnancy complications and a life-threatening condition in infants known as \u201cblue baby syndrome\u201d when consumed in high enough quantities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than $83,000 has been awarded from the fund since 2021 to supply the school with bottled water and roughly $110,000 for technical assistance as the school district works to connect to safer supplies, according to the water board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The funding lets school officials put their budget to work in the classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThank goodness,\u201d said Melanie Matta, the school district\u2019s superintendent and principal. About three-quarters of the students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, Matta said. \u201cThat water can get expensive, right? We’re already running on a pretty tight budget.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matta has a message for Newsom: She\u2019d like him to tour her school, and witness why this money is so important.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you meet our kids and walk our small school community, you\u2019ll see exactly why this fight matters and why this funding must be protected,\u201d Matta said in an email. \u201cSafe water is not a gift. It\u2019s a promise. And we need your help to keep that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s nothing left\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cuts began in September, when Newsom and lawmakers struck a deal to reauthorize the state\u2019s carbon market<\/a> after weeks of tense and chaotic negotiations \u2014 renaming it \u201ccap and invest.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new laws deprioritized funding<\/a> lawmakers had promised to safe drinking water, clean air, fire resilience<\/a>, affordable housing and other programs \u2014 shifting their priority behind $1 billion for high-speed rail and $1 billion for lawmakers to direct through the budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The laws removed the 2030 expiration for the safe and affordable drinking water program. But they also dropped the original promise<\/a> to make up any funding shortfalls from the carbon market \u2014 putting $100 million at risk through 2030, according to a Department of Finance forecast<\/a> in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assemblymember James Gallagher<\/a>, a Republican from Chico, called the new priority system \u201cunfortunate\u201d and \u201cmisplaced\u201d at a budget subcommittee hearing<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask these Central Valley communities, these rural communities, \u2018What would you prefer? Would you want safe drinking water coming out of your faucet, or do you want a high-speed rail in your community?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI’m pretty sure I know the answer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, climate regulators on the California Air Resources Board \u2014 chaired by Newsom appointee Lauren Sanchez<\/a> \u2014 are proposing to overhaul the carbon market in ways that could<\/a> cut revenues in half.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If adopted, the changes could leave no funding at all for safe drinking water and other third-tier programs as soon as the 2027\u201328 fiscal year, according to legislative analyst Helen Kerstein \u2014 though, Kerstein added, the forecasts are uncertain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sanchez<\/a>, who was Newsom\u2019s top climate advisor before leading the air board, defended the staff proposal at a Senate oversight hearing<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you believe the Legislature intended to eliminate funding for affordable housing, transit, drinking water, wildfire prevention and clean air programs with the reauthorization?\u201d Sen. Eloise G\u00f3mez Reyes<\/a>, a Democrat from San Bernardino and chair of a Senate budget subcommittee, asked Sanchez.<\/p>\n

Sanchez said the staff proposal didn\u2019t specifically call for defunding those programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me stop you for a moment. That will be the effect,\u201d Reyes said. \u201cThere’s nothing left \u2026 and those are the most important programs that have served the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom deflected, pointing to the Legislature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAny suggestion that California is \u2018trading away\u2019 clean drinking water ignores both the current budget proposal, and the Legislature\u2019s ongoing role in funding these priorities,\u201d spokesperson Anthony Martinez said in an emailed statement. Martinez hinted at, but did not specify, what\u2019s coming in Newsom\u2019s May budget revision Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Many of them were left behind\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roughly 613,000 people<\/a> still rely on water systems that fail to meet state requirements for safe and reliable drinking water. Regulators at the state water board deem another 661 water systems serving nearly 2 million people \u201cat risk\u201d of failure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, almost one million more people have safe drinking water than in 2019 \u2014 which state water officials attribute to the safe drinking water program and its unique, flexible pot of money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were relying on the community to spend its own time and money to get ready, many of them got left behind,\u201d said Darrin Polhemus, who leads the state water board\u2019s Division of Drinking Water. \u201cThe safe drinking water fund has allowed us to prepare communities to do long-term projects, faster.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program, which draws from other state and federal funding sources, has awarded more than $1.8 billion in grants for disadvantaged communities. It\u2019s helped around 320 water systems serving 3.3 million people come off the state\u2019s failing list<\/a>, even as other, at-risk suppliers stumble onto it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The safe and affordable drinking water fund also has helped pay for emergency repairs, technical assistance, bottled water supplies and even some construction costs in communities from San Bernardino<\/a> to Tulare<\/a>, Monterey<\/a> and Sutter<\/a> counties \u2014\u00a0all contending with aging and contaminated water systems.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could not have done it without them,\u201d said Sherry Hunter in Allensworth, which started work on a new well and storage tank in January<\/a> to bring clean water to a town struggling with arsenic and other water problems for over a century.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a lot of other smaller disadvantaged communities that depend on them as well,\u201d Hunter said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The costs for fixing<\/a> these water systems and household wells could hit billions of dollars in the coming years, according to a 2024 water board analysis. And Polhemus said the challenge will\u00a0 grow \u2014 even as funding shrinks \u2014 as water suppliers face new limits on contaminants like hexavalent chromium<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019ve started and committed to a project, we\u2019ve got the funding reserve to see it through,\u201d Polhemus said. \u201cIt\u2019s just, we won\u2019t be starting new projects.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Federal money is also running out. A Biden-era funding boost ends this year, slashing another, more restrictive fund for drinking water infrastructure projects from hundreds of millions of dollars to tens of millions, according to federal<\/a> and water board data. Congressional earmarks could eat into what remains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tami McVay, emergency services director for the nonprofit Self-Help Enterprises, which connects rural communities to affordable housing and safe drinking water, is worried.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her program provides bottled water to more than 3,000 households in the San Joaquin Valley, and trucks water to refill storage tanks at roughly 700 more. Her team helps replace domestic wells and test their water. And it relies on state funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seeing the potential cuts, she said, \u201cit definitely made our mouths drop a little.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Polhemus said he understands communities are nervous.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re going to work with the funds we’re given to continue the program as best we can, because we know the need still exists,\u201d he said. \u201cThe question of how much of it exists, of course, comes out of our hands and into the political arena.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rachel Becker, CalMatters Sherry Hunter shows the containers she uses to collect water for household use in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,23150,457,646],"class_list":["post-315169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-drinking-water","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}