[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 9/27/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

September 27, 2007

 

1.  Top Item

 

Governor's delta plan reignites Peripheral Canal debate

San Francisco Chronicle – 9/27/07

By Tom Chorneau, staff writer

 

(09-27) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's sweeping plan for fixing California's long-term water problems would hold nearly $2 billion in badly needed restoration money hostage until there's agreement on a new system for moving water through - or around - the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

 

The governor's aides insist that Schwarzenegger is open to any solution that will help ensure that delta water continues to flow to 23 million users in the South Bay, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

 

Nonetheless, the governor's plan has reignited debate on the notorious Peripheral Canal - an idea that has stirred passionate north-south discord for decades and could jeopardize the governor's entire water plan.

 

"The governor's motto has always been no third rail left untouched - and it was just a matter of time before he touched this one," said Bruce Cain, a political science professor at UC Berkeley.

 

"For the last 10 years or so, (the Peripheral Canal) has been a backburner issue because it's such a sensitive road to go down," he said. "There was a time when it fully divided the state, when water issues were the way to define politics in California."

 

The Peripheral Canal was proposed in the early 1980s as another way to divert water south from the Sacramento River and the delta. Many voters in the north considered it a water grab. It was defeated in 1982 after an epic campaign war.

 

While Schwarzenegger has not said he supports the idea, he has made it clear that something has to be done. He contends that the current system is vulnerable to an earthquake that could destroy the delta's fragile levee system and make it impossible to shunt fresh water around the state via a complicated system of water pumps and aqueducts. Climate changes could also mean higher tides and more seawater in the delta, harming the quality of the drinking water supply.

 

And a federal court ruling earlier this month designed to protect an imperiled fish, the delta smelt, could end up forcing water officials to cut deliveries from the delta by as much as a third.

 

The governor has proposed a $9 billion water bond that he wants to go to voters in February.

 

Most of the money - $5.1 billion - would be used to build two dams and expand the Los Vaqueros Reservoir on Contra Costa County.

 

But $1.9 billion would be spent on improving the delta: habitat restoration, levee improvements and other investments that would also respond to issues raised by the federal court. That money would only be available if stakeholders come to an agreement on a way to improve the reliability of the delta's water-delivery system.

 

Mark Cowin, deputy director of the state's Department of Water Resources called the governor's plan "a comprehensive approach to dealing with delta sustainability issues" that address both the ecological and water supply needs.

 

None of the bond money could be used to build the new delta canal. Those costs would be paid by the agencies that would benefit from the canal - primarily Southern California cities.

 

Democratic leaders, whose support would be needed to put the plan before voters, don't like the idea of including the delta canal issue in the overall water bond package.

 

State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said it is "an unnecessary distraction that divides the state into old north-south water wars."

 

Perata is pushing his own $5.4 billion bond plan that would improve delta wildlife habitat and fix problems raised by the courts, but nothing for a new canal.

 

Jim Metropulos, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club of California, said the environmental group remains concerned that a new canal system could hurt the health of the delta by taking too much fresh water. He said there are just too many unanswered questions about the proposal.

 

State Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Fresno, said much has changed in California since the Peripheral Canal divided voters and it is time to consider it again. "Any logical person, no matter what you're position is on the Peripheral Canal, understands that we have a major problem on water," he said. "There's no question we need to make improvements."

 

While the governor and Legislature negotiate the bond measure, two groups are working on various ideas for improving water delivery from the delta to the south.

 

A blue ribbon panel appointed by the governor is expected to release its recommendations at the end of this year. State resources officials are working on other studies.

 

Options being considered include improving the existing system in a manner that eliminates the need for a new canal; building a diversion canal that skirts the delta; and building a canal that would employ a series of upgraded levees that would deliver water through the delta.

 

Some observers noted that since the catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, California voters might be more receptive to delta projects than they were in the 1980s.

 

"The governor's plan is a smart idea," said Barbara O'Connor, a political science professor at Cal State Sacramento. "It shifts the debate from where it was 20 years ago. You are not just talking about moving water south, but also about levee fixes and flood control." #

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/27/BAQNSEK3G.DTL

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