From the Turlock Journal –  In the last 50 years, the population in California has doubled, but we have not built a single new water storage project. We need more. We need to make sure that we’re bringing new investments to our water portfolio,” said Harder. Harder is pushing hard to get a bipartisan infrastructure bill passed which could provide $8.3 billion for western water storage. The Interior Department’s proposed 2022 budget includes $15 million toward building Del Puerto Reservoir in Patterson, which will be the first big water infrastructure project in the Central Valley in over 50 years. “We’ve got more than $8 billion for western water storage in this infrastructure project, with over a billion dollars specifically for projects like Del Puerto, in addition to the money that we’ve already talked about,” said Harder. “This would be more money that we’ve spent federally on water since the Hoover Dam. It’s actually five times more than we’ve spent in history. (more)