A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
December 4, 2007
3. Watersheds
Editorial: Take delta task force's coming report seriously
Fixing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has become a euphemism for solving the state's water crisis. It's a gargantuan task made more urgent by a deepening drought and climate change. Throw in a valiant effort to save a fragile ecosystem, provide drinking water for 23 million people and keep agriculture viable and the enormity of what the governor's Delta Vision Blue-Ribbon Task Force has been asked to accomplish becomes apparent.
That's why our first glimpse of the task force's direction was important. The panel -- including former Assemblyman Phil Isenberg and Sunne Wright McPeak, former state secretary of business, transportation and housing -- released a draft report and answered questions Friday. It also set a June deadline for delivering concrete recommendations.
It was clear the panel has two goals of equal importance: Getting water to thirsty Californians and saving a fragile and deteriorating ecosystem. The goals are inseparable: If the delta dies, the water that flows through it won't be fit to drink.
Among 12 goals were reducing the amount of water that valley cities take from rivers that feed the delta, building dams and a "conveyance sys-
tem" (i.e., canal) for moving water to those who need it, restricting building on flood plains and enhancing levees.
Those alone are plenty. It will take generations to find the money to carry out such projects and years to create the necessary consensus and goodwill. Unfortunately, we've already spent years and gobs of money without building anything or creating much goodwill.
But it's a start. While waiting for more detailed plans, we must prepare for some hard realities:
There will be some sort of conveyance (i.e., canal) to move water from the
But any such canal must not diminish delta flows, especially during dry years.
New dams are essential to any water strategy. Almost everyone knows this is true, but there's a big disconnect over who gets to handle the money needed to build them -- legislators or the state bureaucracy. This argument has stalled the governor's water bond. Hopefully, concrete recommendations will provide an impetus for compromise. But if there are no dams, there can be no agreement.
Finding a way to either force the state's water agencies to work together or to get around them. This cannot mean giving up long-held water rights, but instead cutting through red tape.
Inspiring politicians to act. Since they don't listen very well to their constituents, let's have deadlines tied to money. If legislators dither over delivering the projects, as they have on the water bond, then offer the money to local groups such as irrigation districts or even cities. Given a billion dollars, somebody will be able to get results.
The governor's task force has only hinted at how we should fix the delta. We should take those hints seriously and prepare to solve the problems. #
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/story/141598.html
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