Why CalPERS is pouring millions into a Southern California water deal
ROSAMOND -- On the edge of the Mojave Desert, beneath 1,800 acres of scrubland and tumbleweeds, California’s giant public pension fund is trying to make a killing in the water business.
CalPERS is the primary owner of the Willow Springs Water Bank, an underground reservoir that could hold as much water as Folsom Lake when fully developed. Its customers, mainly a collection of Los Angeles-area water agencies, pay fees to store water beneath the Kern County soil to bolster their supplies during dry periods.
The water bank, one of several in this part of the state, operates on a simple concept: Agencies that get water from the California Aqueduct divert it about 8 miles east via pipeline to Willow Springs, where it percolates into the natural aquifer below. When they need it back, they extract it through a pumping station, which returns it to the aqueduct.
“They make a deposit, or they can make a withdrawal,” said Paul Mouchakkaa, managing investment director for real assets at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article138540373.html
