How Splitting California Into 3 Could Hurt The Water System

CALIFORNIA -- An effort to split California into three states may be a good idea to some voters, but it could hurt the region's complex water system. The Sacramento Bee reported dividing the water system might not be possible.

"California has spent more than a century crafting one of the world's most elaborate — and interdependent — networks for storing, allocating and delivering its water," the Sacramento Bee reported. "Billions of dollars have been poured into reservoirs, pumping stations and aqueducts, mostly to move water from the rainy north to the arid and densely populated south."

Kevin O'Brien, a water lawyer, told the Bee the situation would be a "nightmare."

"You have got multiple questions about how the different water-related assets would be divided," O'Brien told the Bee. "That would include water rights, reservoirs, conveyance facilities like the California Aqueduct. ... How exactly you would carve those assets up would be extremely complicated."

"The implications for water supply are staggering," the Bee article goes on to say. "For instance: Could the new state of Northern California, blessed with ample water and the mechanism for delivering it as far away as San Diego, decide to shut off the spigot?"

The effort to split California into three regions is being led by Silicon Valley businessman Tim Draper who argued that the state has become too complicated to govern.

The website of Draper's campaign, dubbed "Cal 3," touches on several reasons as to why he and others want to split the state, including infrastructure, taxes and accountability.

Patch reached out to Cal 3 for comment.

Read the full Sacramento Bee story here.