Our media outlets have been on overdrive this week as the image of the Oroville dam spilling over is now embedded in all of our heads. Just 70 miles from our capital city, Oroville is the second largest lake in the state, and a key piece of the State’s Water Supply System for all of California.
Living in the North State where almost all of the state’s water is stored and gathered in lakes like Oroville and Folsom, carries with it a very real risk of flooding when that infrastructure or its management is compromised, which is what we saw this past week and will continue to monitor as we anticipate more rain this week.
At the Metro Chamber, we are working to support aggressive and proactive management of our infrastructure assets to maximize water supply reliability, while protecting residents and businesses from the threat of flooding. With that said, the current situation is a very real wake-up call for the state of California and a reminder to invest not just building new infrastructure, but also investing in our existing infrastructure to ensure that we are protecting our region and managing this resource for the benefit of all who depend on it.
As we work to maintain the state’s water, flood, electrical grid, and transportation systems that we all depend on for our regional prosperity, and look to forward-thinking solutions that help drive our region’s growth and innovation like smart transportation, increased water storage, and upgrading our electrical grid, broadband connectivity, and wireless technologies, we need to make it easier to do so by cutting through the red tape that slows down dynamic management, maintenance, and construction of projects that creates an artificial financial barrier to their completion.
You can add your voice to those efforts! Join one of our policy teams for State Legislative Summit and/or Cap-to-Cap! Working together, we can ensure our state and federal representatives know the business community sees maintenance and growth of our infrastructure as a key priority.
Robert Dugan
SVP, Economic Development & Public Policy
Sacramento Metro Chamber
