[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 6/3/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

June 3, 2008

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

 

Editorial: Slowly, slowly water legislation advances

Sacramento Bee – 6/3/08

 

Take a walk beside the Capitol grounds at night and you can often see sprinkler water running off sidewalks and into storm drains.

 

Drip. Drip. Drip.

 

Then go into the Capitol and watch lawmakers try to tackle the state's water challenges.

 

Drip. Drip. Drip.

 

Water is one of those California conundrums in which progress seems tortuous. Unless a deal can be struck that rewards all water interests – farmers, cities, environmentalists, etc. – one or more factions is often able to kill any step forward.

 

Such is the backdrop of this year's Legislature, where some lawmakers are trying to move beyond spats over dams and canals to find common ground on water conservation.

 

Last week, a splintered Assembly approved Assembly Bill 2175, which would require the state to reduce per capita water use in cities and suburbs by 20 percent by 2020. It also calls on agriculture to reduce usage by 500,000 acre-feet – enough water to supply 1 million households a year.

 

This bill, by Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, is a work in progress. Unresolved issues include how to deal with water districts that have already invested heavily in conservation. Yet as anyone touring Capitol Park can attest, California has a mixed record on using water efficiently. At the very least, lawmakers should be rallying around proposals that would gradually reduce the waste of water in a state that adds 500,000 people a year.

 

Another conservation water measure, Assembly Bill 2153, failed last week. Authored by Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, this bill aimed to make new developments "water neutral" by requiring developers to invest in efficiency in the same watershed.

 

Krekorian's goal was a good one, but his bill would have added to mitigation requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. CEQA litigants already have too many tools to slow down and stop infill housing in California. Had supporters of AB 2153 handled that issue more sensitively, the bill might have passed. Perhaps it will in the future.#

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/983592.html

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