Readers React: How much water would Los Angeles have to give back if ‘3 Californias’ passes?

To the editor: Barton H. Thompson and Matt Kline raise a number of questions regarding water resources if the initiative to divide California into three separate states passes.

Specifically, they raise concerns about the rights to water from two major projects — the Colorado River Project and the State Water Project — that are critical sources of supply to Southern California in general and Los Angeles County specifically. Neither project would be located in the proposed new state of California, which would include L.A. County. Endless and expensive litigation would ensue.

The article did not address yet another imported water project that benefits the city of Los Angeles: the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

The eastern Sierra Nevada source of this water is in the proposed state of Southern California, which contains Inyo and Mono counties. For this reason alone, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if the measure were to pass in those two counties.

And in the unlikely event that it would pass statewide, Los Angeles, to paraphrase William Mulholland, might be forced to say, “Here it is, take it back.”

Dan Masnada, Valencia

The writer was general manager of the Castaic Lake Water Agency from 2002-16.

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To the editor: I’m beginning to think that dividing California into three states is not a bad idea.

Government debt statewide, including bond debt and unfunded pension liability, is estimated by the California Policy Center to be $1.3 trillion. Meanwhile, California’s high-speed rail will cost at least $77 billion, our gas tax was just increased, and all residents of the state will soon be encouraged to cut back their per-person indoor water consumption to just 55 gallons per day.

No wonder the “3 Californias” initiative received enough signatures to get on the November ballot. Three smaller state governments that can address more common regional interests would surely be more responsive than what we have in Sacramento right now.

Sue Lukowski, Laguna Niguel

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