Water Infrastructure And Stormwater: What San Joaquin County’s $19 Million Federal Ask Means for Lodi

Lodi

Apr 15

Water Infrastructure & Stormwater: What San Joaquin County's $19 Million Federal Ask Means for Lodi

Summary

San Joaquin County submitted nearly $19 million in federal funding requests in March 2026 for the FY2027 budget, including $2.4 million for the Victor Storm Drain Retention Pond just east of Lodi and $2 million for the Acampo Innovation Drainage Project to the south. Both projects have been submitted in prior years without receiving funding. Meanwhile, aging water mains across the county — some nearly 80 years old — are causing leaks and service disruptions. This report examines the county’s federal requests, Lodi’s own water and stormwater infrastructure, and the broader landscape of state and federal funding programs that could shape the region’s water future.

The Big Ask: Ten Projects, $19 Million

Board of Supervisors Chair Sonny Dhaliwal framed the requests as “thoughtful, forward-looking investments that strengthen our infrastructure” and called the federal partnership essential to “building more resilient communities.” Congress is expected to submit selected projects to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in the coming months for inclusion in the Fiscal Year 2027 federal budget.

Of the ten projects submitted, five are explicitly water- or stormwater-related:

Project	Amount	Purpose
Victor Storm Drain Retention Pond	$2.4M	Land acquisition, design, and construction of stormwater retention east of Lodi
Acampo Innovation Drainage Project Phase B	$2.0M	Flood risk reduction and sustainable water management near the Delta
Lincoln Village Water Main Replacement	$2.0M	Replace ~80-year-old pipes in Stockton
Colonial Heights Water System Reconstruction	$2.0M	Replace aging water mains, reduce maintenance costs
Boggs Tract Storm Drainage Improvements	$2.5M	Permanent drainage system to mitigate localized flooding

Three Years Running: The Federal Funding Treadmill

One of the most telling details in this year’s county submission is how familiar some of the line items are. The Victor Storm Drain Retention Pond has appeared in San Joaquin County’s federal funding requests every year since 2024 — three consecutive years at the same $2.4 million ask. The Acampo Innovation Drainage Project has likewise been submitted twice, in 2024 and again in 2026, at $2 million each time. Neither project has yet received federal appropriations.

This pattern isn’t unusual — the federal Community Project Funding (earmark) process is competitive, and projects routinely cycle through multiple budget years before landing an allocation. But it raises a practical question for Lodi-area residents: how long can these communities wait?

San Joaquin County Federal Funding Requests: Year-Over-Year Comparison

Source: San Joaquin County Press Releases, 2024–2026

The county’s total annual ask has fluctuated — from $13.7 million across six projects in 2024, to nearly $27 million across ten projects in 2025, and back down to $19 million across ten projects in 2026. The shrinking dollar figure may reflect a more targeted strategy, but the persistence of the Victor and Acampo projects suggests the county views them as priorities that simply haven’t found their federal match yet.

Project	FY2025 (2024)	FY2026 (2025)	FY2027 (2026)
Victor Storm Drain Retention Pond	$2.41M	$2.4M	$2.4M
Acampo Innovation Drainage	$2.0M	—	$2.0M
Lincoln Village Water Mains	—	$2.0M	$2.0M
Colonial Heights Water System	—	—	$2.0M
Countywide Generators (water/storm)	—	$2.7M	—
Boggs Tract Storm Drainage	—	—	$2.5M

Victor Storm Drain: Lodi’s Eastern Neighbor

The $2.4 million Victor Storm Drain Retention Pond project targets County Service Area 14, the unincorporated community of Victor just east of Lodi. The plan is to acquire land and construct a retention pond with pumps, pipes, and related facilities to convey, capture, and store excess stormwater runoff.

Victor is classified as a disadvantaged community, and county officials have emphasized that capturing stormwater there will “combat the effects of a critically over-drafted groundwater subbasin and promote sustainable water practices in the region.” For Lodi residents, a retention pond just east of city limits could ease localized flooding pressure on shared drainage corridors and contribute to groundwater recharge in the Eastern San Joaquin subbasin — the same aquifer Lodi draws roughly 55% of its drinking water from.

Acampo: A Flood Problem Decades in the Making

The Acampo Innovation Drainage Project Phase B seeks $2 million to continue work that began after significant flooding in 2017. The unincorporated community of Acampo, south of Lodi along Highway 99, experiences periodic flooding roughly once every ten years due to changes in the upper watershed that accumulated over generations.

Phase 1, completed in 2019 with $2.25 million in state funding, built a drainage system to intercept floodwaters before they reached the Cooper’s Corner area. Phase B will advance engineering plans and construction for additional infrastructure aimed at reducing flood risk while promoting “holistic, sustainable, and inclusive approaches to water management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.” The state money got Phase 1 across the finish line, but Phase B still needs the federal piece to move forward.

Aging Pipes: A Countywide Crisis

While the Lincoln Village and Colonial Heights projects are Stockton-focused, the underlying problem — water mains that have outlived their useful life — resonates across the county. Alex Chetley, Deputy Director of San Joaquin County’s Department of Public Works, put it plainly: pipes approaching 80 years old cause “leaks and service disruptions,” and at that age, “things start growing in them and you run the risk of having bacteria in the lines.”

The county operates and maintains nearly 32 water districts and is in the midst of a multi-year effort to replace close to 20 miles of underground water lines in Lincoln Village alone. So far, the county has leveraged nearly $6 million in outside funding — including an EPA grant — without passing costs to ratepayers. Supervisor Paul Canepa noted the county sends “a lot of money” to the federal government and wants to see some come back.

Lodi’s Own Water Infrastructure

The City of Lodi manages its water system independently from the county districts. Since 2012, Lodi’s surface water treatment plant on the Mokelumne River has provided roughly 45–50% of the city’s drinking water, with 25 computer-controlled groundwater wells supplying the balance. Nine of those wells are equipped with Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filtration to address volatile organic compounds, and at least one well has had PFAS detected, prompting planned GAC treatment.

The city’s General Plan 2025 Update documents a long-range plan to expand the surface water treatment plant by an additional 10 million gallons per day — a project projected for 2030–2040 if current capacity is exceeded. The Eastern San Joaquin Integrated Regional Water Management Plan provides the broader framework, coordinating conjunctive use of surface and groundwater supplies across the region.

Lodi’s Stormwater System

Lodi’s stormwater drainage system includes 18 storm outlets discharging to the Mokelumne River, Lodi Lake, or the Woodbridge Irrigation District Canal. The city’s Stormwater Management Program focuses on pollution prevention, construction runoff control, illicit discharge detection, and public education — including the long-running Storm Drain Detectives volunteer monitoring program that has contributed water quality data for over a decade.

The city maintains its own Storm Drainage System Master Plan alongside its Water Distribution System Master Plan and Wastewater Master Plan. Urban forestry is explicitly recognized in Lodi’s stormwater program as a management tool — trees absorb water and help provide stormwater management in urban settings.

California Programs: Where State Funding Fits In

The federal earmark process is only one funding lane. Several California state programs are directly relevant to Lodi and San Joaquin County’s water infrastructure needs.

Proposition 4 Climate Bond ($10 Billion)

Approved by nearly 60% of California voters in November 2024, Proposition 4 authorized $10 billion in bond funding for climate resilience — with the largest single chunk, approximately $3.8 billion, dedicated to Safe Drinking Water, Drought, Flood, and Water Resilience. The state began releasing funds in Fall 2025, with roughly $1.07 billion allocated in the first tranche. An additional $972 million is planned for fiscal year 2026–2027.

Of particular relevance to Lodi:

$100 million earmarked for Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) through DWR by FY 2027–2028 — the same IRWM framework that governs the Eastern San Joaquin region’s water planning.
$386 million allocated for water recycling and reuse projects under the State Water Resources Control Board, with $150 million available in FY 2025–2026 alone.
Watershed-based climate resilience projects will receive funding under updated IRWM guidelines, which DWR is currently revising to address climate risk impacts.

SGMA and the Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin

The City of Lodi is one of 16 Groundwater Sustainability Agencies within the Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority (ESJGWA), formed in 2017 under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin is designated as critically overdrafted by DWR — the most severe classification — and must achieve sustainability by 2040.

The subbasin’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan identifies 23 potential projects to offset groundwater pumping or supplement supplies through recharge, estimating that roughly 37,000 acre-feet per year of offsets or recharge may be needed. This is the direct regulatory backdrop for projects like the Victor Storm Drain Retention Pond, which would capture stormwater in a critically overdrafted area and promote groundwater recharge. Every gallon of stormwater captured rather than lost to surface runoff is a gallon that can help the subbasin meet its 2040 mandate.

The Big Beautiful Bill: Federal Dollars for Valley Canals

In March 2026, the Department of the Interior announced $889 million in federal funding for Western water infrastructure under President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025. The legislation provides $1 billion to the Bureau of Reclamation through 2034 to restore and expand water conveyance systems and increase surface water storage.

Three San Joaquin Valley canal projects received major allocations:

Delta-Mendota Canal: $235 million for rehabilitation, including canal embankment work and a potential new concrete-lined segment.
Friant-Kern Canal: $200 million for subsidence correction.
San Luis Canal: $50 million for subsidence-related repairs.

While none of these canals directly serve Lodi’s municipal system, they are critical to the regional agricultural economy and to the broader water supply calculus. The Delta-Mendota Canal in particular affects water deliveries across the San Joaquin Valley, and its rehabilitation supports the kind of surface water reliability that reduces pressure on groundwater — the same aquifer Lodi depends on.

State Drinking Water Funding

The State Water Resources Control Board’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and Small Community Drinking Water Funding Program remain ongoing sources for public water system improvements. These programs provide low-interest loans, grants, and principal forgiveness for infrastructure projects that address public health risks or compliance with state and federal drinking water standards. Lodi’s ongoing PFAS detection in at least one well and its GAC treatment infrastructure could make certain upgrades eligible for state assistance.

The Funding Landscape at a Glance

The convergence of Proposition 4 bond money, federal reclamation dollars, and SGMA mandates creates a window where more funding is theoretically available than at any point in recent memory — but only for communities that apply, persist, and connect the dots between local projects and statewide goals.

Water Infrastructure Funding Sources Available to the Lodi Region

Source: CA Proposition 4 Bond Accountability, Bureau of Reclamation, SJC Public Works, State Water Board

Funding Source	Total Available	Relevance to Lodi Area
SJC Federal Earmark Requests (FY2027)	$18.9M (10 projects)	Victor Storm Drain, Acampo Drainage
CA Proposition 4 Climate Bond	$3.8B (water chapter)	IRWM, flood resilience, water recycling
Big Beautiful Bill Act (Reclamation)	$1B through 2034	Valley canal repairs, regional water supply
SGMA Implementation	Varies by project	Eastern SJ Subbasin sustainability by 2040
State DWSRF / Small Community Programs	Ongoing revolving fund	Drinking water compliance, PFAS treatment
Acampo State Funding (received)	$2.25M	Phase 1 flood diversion, completed 2019

Why This Matters for Lodi

The county’s federal funding requests put a spotlight on a truth that’s easy to overlook: water infrastructure is expensive, it’s aging fast, and the communities surrounding Lodi — Victor, Acampo, Lincoln Village — face the same pressures that Lodi itself navigates with its own wells, treatment plant, and storm drains. The difference is that unincorporated communities like Victor depend almost entirely on county advocacy and outside funding to get projects built.

Meanwhile, the regulatory clock is ticking. The Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin must reach groundwater sustainability by 2040, and every stormwater capture project that stalls is a missed opportunity to recharge the aquifer that supplies Lodi’s drinking water. Whether the Victor and Acampo projects finally receive federal funding in FY2027 will depend on congressional priorities in the months ahead.

Lodi411 has previously reported on federal legislation with local water implications, including the MORE WATER Act, which would authorize $500 million for canal restoration and conveyance infrastructure across the San Joaquin Valley. We’ll continue tracking these requests through the appropriations process.

About This Report: AI-Assisted Research and Analysis

This LodiEye investigative report was produced using artificial intelligence tools under the direction and editorial review of Lodi411’s human editor. Lodi411 uses multiple AI platforms in its research and publication workflow, including Anthropic’s Claude (primarily Opus and Sonnet models) and Perplexity AI across a variety of large language models offered by each. These tools were used in the following capacities:

Source Discovery: Perplexity AI was used to identify and retrieve San Joaquin County press releases from 2024, 2025, and 2026; CBS Sacramento and Stocktonia reporting on county water infrastructure; California State Water Board program documentation; Proposition 4 bond accountability records; Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority sustainability plans; Bureau of Reclamation funding announcements; and City of Lodi master plan documents. Claude was used for deeper analysis of identified sources and cross-referencing funding amounts across multiple fiscal years.

Credibility Validation: AI cross-referenced funding request amounts and project descriptions across three years of official San Joaquin County press releases, independent news coverage (CBS Sacramento, Stocktonia, Yahoo News), state regulatory databases (SGMA Portal, CEQA-net), and federal agency announcements (Bureau of Reclamation). Multiple AI models were used to independently verify recurring project amounts and flag year-over-year changes.

Analysis and Synthesis: Claude Opus and Perplexity AI assisted in identifying the three-year recurring pattern of Victor and Acampo funding requests, connecting SGMA groundwater sustainability mandates to local stormwater capture projects, mapping the intersection of federal earmarks with state Proposition 4 bond funding and Big Beautiful Bill Act allocations, and synthesizing City of Lodi infrastructure data with county-level planning.

Presentation: Claude assisted in drafting, structuring, and formatting the report for clarity and readability, including the year-over-year funding comparison tables, the funding landscape summary table, data visualizations of funding trends, and the narrative structure connecting county requests to Lodi-specific impacts.

Final Review: Multiple AI models reviewed the completed draft for factual consistency, source attribution accuracy, logical coherence, and balanced presentation. All editorial judgments, analytical conclusions, and publication decisions were made by Lodi411’s human editor.

Lodi411/LodiEye believes transparency about AI use in journalism serves both readers and the profession. We use multiple AI platforms — including Anthropic’s Claude (Opus and Sonnet) and Perplexity AI — as research, analysis, and presentation tools, not as autonomous authors. All editorial judgments, analytical conclusions, and publication decisions are made by Lodi411’s human editor, who directs and reviews all AI-assisted work.

References

WaterSan Joaquin County

Don Bradford