host posted on May 13, 2009 22:50
Source= The Wall Street Journal
MATHER AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Wednesday that California will receive $260 million in economic-stimulus funds to improve its aging water infrastructure.
The nation's most-populous state will receive more than a quarter of the $1 billion that the Interior Department is investing in water systems nationwide. The funds come from the $787 billion federal-stimulus package President Barack Obama signed in February.
The announcement comes as California is facing a third straight year of drought and a double-digit unemployment rate, one of the highest in the country.
"The human suffering here in California is all too real," Mr. Salazar said during a news conference here.
"Farmers are not able to plant," he said. Workers in many communities and counties with 30% to 40% unemployment rates are without jobs "because of the fact that there are not going to be crops to harvest," he added.
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