Are the POM Wonderful owners basking in the underground waters of California? With 56.66 percent ownership of Kern Water Bank—the largest aquifer in the world—the answer is “Yes.” Kern Water Bank is a 32-acre underground water storage facility—twice the size of Hetch Hetchy. The Department of Water Resources built it to provide public water with $74 million taxpayer dollars. In 1995, DWR transferred public ownership to billionaires Stewart and Linda Resnick. Today, this power couple sells water for profit. The Resnicks own Paramount Agribusiness—the largest farming company in America, with 127,000 acres in California’s Central Valley. Despite hoarding water, they make a profit selling it back to California, which has paid $30.6 million to Kern Water Bank. More alarming is the $11.1 billion water bond on the 2012 ballot, which gifts companies the right to profit from dams, reservoirs and water banks built with public funds.
“Just Who Owns California’s Water Supply,” Associated Press, Portland Press Herald, pressherald.com, 4/11/10
http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/just-who-owns-californias-water-supply__2010-04-11.html
“Who Owns California Water,” Bob Williams, Redding Searchlight, redding.com, 6/21/10 http://www.redding.com/news/2010/jun/21/who-owns-californias-water/
Senator Feinstein Teams Up with Billionaire Farmers and Corporate Raiders to Mount Hostile Takeover of California’s Water,” Yasha Levine, The Exile, exileonline.com, 2/13/10 http://exiledonline.com/senator-feinstein-teams-up-with-billionaire-farmers-and-corporate-raiders-to-mount-hostile-takeover-of-californias-water/
Student Researchers: Cara Peracchi Douglas, Sarah Schmidt, Katie Whitney
Faculty Evaluator: Dennis L. Nef, Ph.D. & Sharon Benes, Ph.D., CSU, Fresno