Water & Infrastructure
Water, Drought & Infrastructure Resilience
Treat water as permanent survival infrastructure stored, recycled, protected, measured, and managed for people, food systems, ecosystems, and future growth.
Key Commitments
Water must be managed as permanent survival infrastructure — captured during wet periods, stored underground, and recycled continuously to achieve regional self-reliance and protect family farms.
- 01prioritize underground aquifer banking over expensive and litigious new surface dams
- 02deploy urban stormwater capture systems to recycle municipal runoff
- 03expand municipal purple-pipe networks to double wastewater recycling capacity
- 04guarantee clean drinking water and well rehabilitation for rural farmworker communities
Water is California’s defining infrastructure challenge, shaping housing, farming, wildfire resilience, and public health. Yet the state continues to manage water as a seasonal crisis, letting millions of acre-feet of urban stormwater run off into the ocean while rural wells go dry and agricultural aquifers collapse [Source →].
We cannot resolve this crisis with performative conservation restrictions that shift the burden onto residential ratepayers. We must treat water as permanent survival infrastructure. By standardizing CEQA streamlinings for public works and expanding storage underground, we build water abundance without General Fund debt.
Our plan focuses on groundwater aquifer banking, urban stormwater capture, advanced wastewater recycling, and securing clean drinking water for rural communities.
The Core Principle
Water must be managed as permanent survival infrastructure — captured during wet periods, stored underground, and recycled continuously to achieve regional self-reliance and protect family farms.
- prioritize underground aquifer banking over expensive and litigious new surface dams
- deploy urban stormwater capture systems to recycle municipal runoff
- expand municipal purple-pipe networks to double wastewater recycling capacity
- guarantee clean drinking water and well rehabilitation for rural farmworker communities
By capturing wet-year abundance and ending speculative water hoarding by corporate hedge funds, we protect California’s water supply without adding new taxes.
Execution Order
Water Resilience Sequence
We will secure California’s water supply through a logical sequence: first fix leaking pipes and secure rural wells, then build underground aquifer storage, and finally scale municipal water recycling.
[Rural Well Rehabilitation] ───> Immediate Safe Drinking Water ──> [Disadvantaged Communities]
│
[Aquifer Recharge & Banking] ─> Capture Wet-Year Stormwater Runoff ──> [Groundwater Stability]
│
[Advanced Wastewater Plants] ──> Double Purple-Pipe Recycling ───────> [Water Independence]Phase 1
Protect Systems & Secure Rural Wells
Address immediate safe drinking water crises and fix leaking local pipelines.
- Rehabilitate Rural Water Wells: Deploy dedicated state grants to rebuild failing water wells in disadvantaged Central Valley communities [Source →].
- Launch Leak-Repair Fast-Track: Exempt municipal leak repairs from CEQA reviews to stop the waste of purified drinking water.
Phase 2
Capture Stormwater & Recharge Aquifers
Use natural groundwater basins to store wet-year stormwater runoff.
- Prioritize Aquifer Banking: Channel high-river storm flows to dedicated agricultural recharge basins to naturally replenish groundwater tables [Source →].
- Deploy Urban Stormwater Nets: Install permeable streets and rain gardens to capture and clean runoff in major coastal cities [Source →].
Phase 3
Scale Municipal Recycling & Reuse
Scale wastewater recycling and expand purple-pipe distribution networks.
- Double Recycled Wastewater Capacity: Expand advanced purification facilities to recycle wastewater for non-potable and agricultural reuse [Source →].
- Extend Purple-Pipe Networks: Deliver recycled water directly for municipal landscaping and industrial cooling systems.
Pillar I: Groundwater Recharge & Aquifer Banking
California’s groundwater aquifers are severely depleted due to decades of overdraft, leading to land subsidence and failing domestic wells. Conventional surface dams are slow to build, vulnerable to massive evaporation loss, and delayed by decades of litigation.
We focus storage investments on replenishing depleted underground groundwater aquifers [Source →]. By channeling high-river flows during wet years to agricultural recharge basins, we store water naturally where it is insulated from evaporation. To prevent speculative corporate capture, we restrict aquifer banking storage credits exclusively to active food growers and local municipal water districts, banning Wall Street hedge funds from trading public water resources.
Aquifer Storage Rules:
- Zoning streamlining: Grant automatic zoning approvals for groundwater recharge basins built on underutilized agricultural land.
- Hedge Fund Restrictions: Audit groundwater banking credits, prohibiting corporate entities from hoarding water reserves for speculative resale.
Storing water underground is ecologically sound and fiscally disciplined, capturing millions of acre-feet during wet years at a fraction of the cost of new dams.
Pillar II: Stormwater Capture & Recycling
Every year, millions of acre-feet of stormwater runoff wash off paved streets, picking up toxic pollutants and flowing straight into the ocean [Source →]. This represents a massive water supply lost due to a lack of urban capture capacity.
We mandate stormwater capture networks across all coastal municipal zones. By integrating rain gardens, permeable streets, and storm basins into municipal planning, we clean and store urban runoff locally. Furthermore, we fast-track CEQA approvals for stormwater capture projects, treating rain as a public asset rather than a nuisance [Source →].
Stormwater Rules:
- Urban Runoff Capture: Mandate that all new commercial developments integrate bioswales and permeable surfaces to capture 100% of on-site rain runoff.
- Precedent Studies: Model urban capture systems on proven municipal stormwater capture frameworks to ensure high-yield collection.
By capturing and cleaning stormwater runoff locally, we lessen our reliance on expensive imported water from the Delta.
Pillar III: Advanced Municipal Wastewater Recycling
Water recycling is future water capacity hiding inside systems California already operates. Yet, the state recycles only a fraction of its wastewater, discharging the rest into bays and oceans.
We scale wastewater recycling and expand purple-pipe networks to deliver recycled water directly for municipal landscaping and agriculture [Source →]. By deploying advanced microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and UV purification systems, we double state-wide recycled water capacity, ensuring regional communities achieve water independence [Source →].
Water Recycling Rules:
- Purple-Pipe Expansion: Require all new large-scale commercial and municipal facilities to build dedicated purple-pipe plumbing for non-potable use.
- Desalination Integration: Co-locate brackish water treatment facilities with wastewater recycling plants to minimize energy requirements.
Wastewater recycling provides a reliable, drought-proof water supply that keeps local communities self-reliant.
Pillar IV: Safe Rural Drinking Water
Over one million Californians, primarily in low-income agricultural and farmworker communities, lack access to clean drinking water due to arsenic, nitrate, and pesticide contamination in local groundwater tables [Source →].
We will secure clean drinking water by rehabilitating failing water wells and consolidating small, failing water districts into larger, professional municipal systems. Earmarked funds from the Pesticide Mill Assessment (as detailed in our Farm Workers brief) and voter-approved climate bonds will fund well-hardening and filtration infrastructure, ensuring small districts are not outcompeted for resources by wealthy urban centers.
Drinking Water Rules:
- Independent Testing: Mandate continuous, independent water-quality testing in high-risk zones, publishing findings directly to the state portal.
- Consolidation Mandates: Automatically merge failing water systems with adjacent compliant municipal networks if water standards are violated for more than 180 consecutive days.
Safe drinking water is a basic right. We prioritize rural communities over urban administrative expansion.
Debate Matrix: Anticipated Attacks & Counter-Pivots
| Opponent's Attack | The Ruiz Counter-Pivot |
|---|---|
| "Prioritizing underground storage over new surface dams is a cosmetic environmental agenda that will cut off water to Central Valley farmers." | "This ends the zero-sum water game. Surface dams lose millions of gallons to evaporation and are delayed by decades of litigation. Storing water underground in natural aquifers is ecologically sound, holds far more volume, and captured over 2.2 million acre-feet during recent wet periods [Source →]. We are letting nature store the water to secure supplies for both farmers and ecosystems." |
| "Upgrading municipal water systems and expanding recycling plants will require massive utility rate hikes on working families." | "We reject utility hikes. Funding will be layered—reallocating existing voter-approved climate bonds and maximizing matching federal infrastructure dollars (IIJA) to shield ratepayers from construction costs [Source →]. Neglecting water infrastructure now is what will lead to astronomical emergency water imports later." |
| "Banning corporate hedge funds from trading water banking credits will harm agricultural investment and land values." | "Water is a public trust, not a Wall Street speculative asset. Letting hedge funds buy up agricultural land simply to pump groundwater and sell it back to desperate towns at a profit doesn't help farmers—it drives them out of business. We reserve water storage credits exclusively for local municipal districts and active food growers. Our fields should grow food, not investment portfolios." |
| "The opponent claims we should roll back environmental water flow mandates to resolve farm shortages." | "Our opponent wants to continue the failed water wars of the past forty years, promising farmers unlimited water that doesn't exist while the delta collapse runs wild. This is empty political pandering. Our plan builds new water capacity: capturing urban stormwater, doubling advanced wastewater recycling, and banking wet-year flood flows underground. We solve the shortage by building supply, not by picking fights. Our opponent offers court battles; we offer new water." |
The Simple Version
California manages water as a constant crisis rather than a permanent asset, letting stormwater flush into the ocean while farming wells run dry. Our plan focuses on storage, recycling, and rural safety.
We prioritize low-cost, high-volume underground aquifer storage over litigious surface dams, double wastewater recycling capacity, and capture urban stormwater runoff. We consolidate failing water districts to guarantee clean drinking water to over one million rural Californians, and we ban Wall Street hedge funds from speculating on public water. We secure our water by building supply, not by fighting over scarcity.
The Goal
Our goal is to treat water as permanent survival infrastructure stored, recycled, and managed for people, food systems, and ecosystems, guaranteeing safe drinking water for every California community.
- safe, reliable drinking water for all communities
- drought-proof water security across agricultural and urban zones
- active and managed groundwater recharge in depleted aquifers
- expanded urban stormwater capture and runoff recycling
- doubled advanced municipal wastewater recycling capacity
- fully transparent and auditable public water spending