What is Prop 4? $10 billion bond pays for long list of CA climate change projects

MOSS LANDING, Calif. -- Like many residents in Moss Landing, Kelli Hutten doesn't trust the water coming out of her faucet.

"In my home right now, the water is a threat," said Hutten as she stood outside her home, which is surrounded by vegetable fields.

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Hutten lives in one of the many homes in this farming community that gets their water from wells.

"You don't visually see it. Our tap water is clear. It looks like you can drink it, but it's not safe to drink," she explained.

The State Water Resources Control Board estimates nearly 400 water systems in California don't meet state requirements for safe drinking water, affecting an estimated 771,000 residents.

Proposition 4 on November's ballot would provide $1.9 billion to improve drinking water across the state, primarily in lower income communities like Moss Landing.

The $10 billion statewide measure would also provide $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and $1.2 billon to protect coastal areas from sea level rise.

"Marshes act like a sponge. They soak up water during high tides and then release it slowly," said David Lewis, executive director of Save The Bay, as he overlooked the marsh between San Francisco Bay and Interstate 580 in Albany.

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"If those marshes weren't here, you would have huge waves smashing against the edge, eroding those levees that the freeway is on and over time that is a big threat to people," added Lewis, who is a proponent of Proposition 4.

Money from the measure will also raise the level of sea walls in areas without marshes, like the San Francisco waterfront.

"This climate bond would put a huge down payment on getting this work started," explained Lewis.

But some watchdog groups say it's a down payment California can't afford.

"Bonds are borrowed money and it doesn't seem like anybody has to pay for it, but when your government tells you we don't have money for this, and we don't have money for that, one of the reasons is they're paying $8 billion in principal and interest on old debt that was approved by previous voters," said Susan Shelley of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Shelley said the state does not have a good track record on getting results from bond funds.

She cites the $9 billion bond approved in 2008 to build a high-speed rail network in California.

Sixteen years later and the system is not yet functioning.

Another is the $7.5 billion bond approved in 2014 to build more dams.

Ten years later, no new dams have been built, mainly because of strict regulation and permitting.

"How they actually spend the money once that grant is made is not very transparent so, while you have oversight on the bond, the oversight stops when the grant is made and then how the money is actually spent is not so clear," said Shelley.

Save the Bay says that won't be the case with the 37 restoration projects the group has identified as shovel ready.

"We expect that if this bond is approved, many of these projects can be funded and completed in the next three to four years and that's because those projects have already been planned and permitted and authorized and they just need the money for implementation," explained Lewis.

Pedro Enriquez of Community Water Center said funds from Proposition 4 could be used to fill funding gaps for a project to provide clean drinking water to 240 residents of Pajaro in Monterey County.

"Construction costs are going to be about $40 million and the state can only fulfill about $20 million of that so we need that extra funding to fill in that gap," said Enriquez.

Community Water Center tracks the quality of drinking water systems across the state, including Moss Landing which suffers from a lot of ground contamination.

The main contaminant is nitrate, which comes from the overuse of fertilizers. But other harmful chemicals are also present, such as chromium-6 and 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, a pesticide additive.

These chemicals are suspected of causing cancer, as well as liver and kidney problems.

"All of these contaminants have severe health effects if one drinks, if one cooks or drinks with the well water and that's a big risk for public health," said Mayra Hernandez, an advocacy manager at Community Water Center.

While the state pays for bottled water deliveries every week for residents, work is underway to connect residents to a public water system.

That day can't come soon enough for Hutten, who not only doesn't drink or cook with her tap water, she fears bathing her baby in it too.

"When you have your baby in the bath, you can't put their head in the water because the tap water could threaten your kid's life," said Hutten.