Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
August 19, 2009
1. Top Items–
Schwarzenegger wants bonds in water package
Sacramento Bee
Schwarzenegger sets conditions for water legislation;
Governor says he won't sign anything that doesn't include bonds for new dams and reservoirs,
making a deal seem less likely. Democrats see such facilities as a costly sop to agribusiness.
Los Angeles Times
Battle heightens over water in delta
San Francisco Chronicle
Water Bill Debate Gets Going;
Little Time Left, Lots Of Work To Do
Stockton Record
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Schwarzenegger wants bonds in water package
Sacramento Bee – 8/19/09
By E. J. Schultz
The Legislature's fight over water is evolving into a fight over money.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that he will not approve a deal unless it includes a multibillion-dollar bond to pay for dams and other projects.
But his demand – which repeats a pledge he's made for three years – is at odds with the push by Democrats to seek policy changes first.
The divide threatens to derail negotiations on legislation to shore up water supplies and fix the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Lawmakers began water hearings Tuesday and hope to reach a compromise before the legislative session ends Sept. 11.
In a letter to Democratic leaders, the governor says: "I cannot sign a comprehensive water package if it fails to include a water infrastructure bond that expands our water storage capacity – both surface storage and groundwater – funds habitat restoration, water quality and conservation."
Farmers, backed by Republicans, are pushing for new dams, including one east of Fresno. Environmentalists oppose using state money for dams.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told reporters that he is "open to a bond."
But he said, "I want to make sure that we first get the policy right on how to restore the Delta and deal with the issue of water supply reliability."
The governor seeks a bond in the range of $10 billion. But Steinberg said that was too expensive given the state's weak fiscal condition.
Democrats are pushing a five-bill package that does not include financing for water projects. Rather, the bills would create a seven-member council to make key decisions on how to restore the Delta while assuring more reliable water supplies.
Democrats say the council is needed to bring more order in the Delta, which is now overseen by more than 200 separate agencies. Court rulings have blamed water pumping in the Delta's southern end for the decline of several fish species.
The two parties sparred over the bills at the hearing. The debate included a testy exchange between Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis – who represents Delta residents who oppose a proposed new canal to move water around the Delta – and Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, whose farming constituents want the canal.
Wolk said even if a bond were approved this year, it would not translate into immediate water supplies because of lengthy construction timelines. "If you put the shovel in the ground tomorrow, you won't have any water available for a generation."
Cogdill shot back: "All we continue to do is talk and meet and submit bills and argue over them and get absolutely nowhere. And the problem is not going away." #
http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/2120742.html?mi_rss=State%2520Politics
Schwarzenegger sets conditions for water legislation;
Governor says he won't sign anything that doesn't include bonds for new dams and reservoirs,
making a deal seem less likely. Democrats see such facilities as a costly sop to agribusiness.
Los Angeles Times – 8/19/09
By Bettina Boxall
The chances that Sacramento will break the stalemate on California water policy this summer grew dimmer Tuesday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would not sign legislation that doesn't include bonds for new reservoirs and dams.
The declaration signaled Schwarzenegger's dissatisfaction with a package of water bills that Democrats are hoping to move through the Legislature before the mid-September adjournment.
"I will not sign anything that does not have above-the-ground, below-the-ground water storage," the governor said at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento. Inside, Democrats were holding the first of a series of public hearings on the bills.
Schwarzenegger has for several years promoted a bond package to pay for new water infrastructure, including a proposed dam and reservoir in the Sierra foothills northeast of Fresno and a reservoir in Northern California.
But he has been stymied by Democrats, who favor cheaper groundwater storage and consider new surface storage a costly sop to the agribusiness interests that would reap most of its benefits.
Southern California water managers say a new reservoir in Northern California would be of little use to them because the water would still have to be shipped south through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which is in ecological collapse and subject to increasingly strenuous pumping restrictions.
They want a new method of getting water south, probably a multibillion-dollar canal that would carry supplies around the delta from the Sacramento River.
The Democrats' water package does not authorize specific projects, but creates a powerful council that would have the authority to embark on proposals such as a delta bypass. The council's members would be appointed by the governor and the Legislature.
The bills also include delta protections, call for an examination of water rights in the delta watershed and mandate a 20% reduction in per capita urban water use.
Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), a sponsor of the package and chairman of the lower house's Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, said the state needed to agree on what to do about the delta's many problems before approving the issuing of bonds.
"We're out of money, and we've got the worst credit rating in the United States," he said. "To suddenly link [a bond measure] to the resolution of the critical crisis in the delta I think is irresponsible."
Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), another author of the water package, noted areas of agreement with the governor, such as the need for more urban water conservation. "I do not think that anyone should consign this effort to defeat already," he said.
Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, the top Democrat in the state Senate, said he was open to a package that included a general obligation water bond, but that the $10 billion advocated by Republicans in last year's failed talks was too large.
And he added, "I have some skepticism about dams because of their expense." #
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water19-2009aug19,0,1010531.story?track=rss
Battle heightens over water in delta
San Francisco Chronicle – 8/19/09
By Kelly Zito
The pitched battle over California's water crisis shifted from desiccated Central Valley farm fields to the Capitol Tuesday, with state lawmakers debating how to fix the maze of rivers, pipelines and state laws responsible for delivering water to millions.
Amid ecological disaster in the hub of the state's water system and ongoing drought that has forced water cuts from Redding to San Diego, a joint committee of the state Assembly and Senate held a wide-ranging hearing on five bills that aim to end four decades of wrangling over California's most precious resource.
Much of the discussion centered on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an important ecosystem that also funnels water to two-thirds of California.
Years of excessive water withdrawals, increasing pollution and the spread of invasive species has brought the system to near-collapse, decimated native fish populations and thrown the state's water supply into question.
"Benign neglect has not served the delta well," said Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, author of one of the bills. "The day of reckoning is here."
While there is broad agreement that the system is broken, however, Tuesday's gathering highlighted wide gaps remaining among various stakeholders including environmental groups, the administration, cities and the agriculture community.
The Democratic-sponsored package - which the authors hope lawmakers will pass before the end of the legislative session next month - would create an oversight body for the delta, boost statewide conservation, improve monitoring of who uses what water and how much, and establish a commission to protect the delta community.
Many of the goals echo those offered late last year by an independent panel handpicked by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In a letter Tuesday to the Democratic leadership, however, the governor said the package falls short in several areas - namely new dams and reservoirs.
"I will not sign anything that does not have above the ground and below the ground storage," the Republican governor said.
Indeed, some of the sharpest questions looming over the water crisis have to do with the potential for new, man-made structures to help or hurt the delta. In recent years, dams have come under increasing fire for wreaking environmental havoc on fish and rivers.
Within the delta itself, much anxiety rests on a so-called peripheral canal, which would route water from the Sacramento River around the delta to pumps in the south delta. Proponents, including the governor, say a canal would reduce water supply pressures on the ecosystem. Under the proposals, a seven-member panel - including four appointed by the governor - would have broad authority to approve a canal.
But critics contend the canal could allow saltwater to overwhelm the delta, ruin recreational activities and destroy irrigation water for delta farmers.
"We don't want to go backward in terms of water quality in the delta," said Greg Gartrell, assistant general manager of the Contra Costa Water District, which draws its entire supply from the delta.
Still others argue that any solution must take time.
"We cannot sacrifice getting it done right just to get it done," said Kim Delfino, who spoke for the Defenders of Wildlife. #
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/18/BA4419ADV1.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea
Water Bill Debate Gets Going;
Little Time Left, Lots Of Work To Do
Stockton Record – 8/19/09
By Alex Breitler
SACRAMENTO - Legislators on Tuesday began vetting a package of water bills that could forever change the face of the Delta. But there is little time and lots to argue about, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has already threatened to wield his veto pen.
All sides agree the status quo in the deteriorating Delta will not work, but few seem satisfied with the legislation in its current form. Water districts from the Bay Area to San Diego want funding for more dams in addition to a canal to ship water around rather than run it through the heart of the estuary; Delta residents want a louder voice in the process since they believe their fields, waterways and communities hang in the balance.
The legislative session ends in a matter of weeks, raising concerns that lawmakers - in their haste to end the state's three-decade water stalemate - may push through bad policy.
But Democrats said the time to act is now.
"What we have to decide in the next month is whether to continue with this situation, cross our fingers and hope the Delta will pull out of this death spiral, or chart a bold new direction," said Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, author of one of the five bills by Democrats.
The package does not order construction of a peripheral canal; rather, it calls for the appointment of a new Delta council, four of whose seven members would be chosen by the governor.
Since Schwarzenegger's administration supports a canal, some Delta advocates and environmentalists worry that the council - controlled by a handful of political appointees - would wield great influence.
"If this moves forward as drafted, we are going to give away legislative authority to the council to make major decisions," said state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, who represents all or part of four of the five Delta counties, including a portion of San Joaquin.
She said more assurance is needed that, should a canal be built, enough fresh water will remain in the Delta to keep it healthy.
Wolk wrote one of the five bills, which would establish a conservancy and restructure the Delta Protection Commission. Despite her concerns, she called the package a "historic opportunity."
Republicans at Tuesday's hearing were less than enthusiastic. Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, whose district includes most of San Joaquin County, called for public consideration of a water bond to pay for new infrastructure and questioned why such a provision was not included.
"There are people in this state that are suffering because of our inefficient and inadequate water system," Cogdill said. "It's something that should have been addressed decades ago."
Outside the Capitol, Schwarzenegger and south San Joaquin Valley water users - whose supplies have been cut this year due to drought and protections for Delta fish - also condemned the legislation.
"I will not sign anything that does not have above-the-ground and below-the-ground water storage," Schwarzenegger said. "We need the whole package."
Making things more complicated, his administration in a parallel process is already studying a canal or, perhaps, a tunnel that would carry water beneath the Delta to large export pumps near Tracy.
"If we don't pass legislation this year, that process will continue," Huffman said.
Stockton does not yet receive any of its drinking water from the Delta. But city councils in San Joaquin County and the county Board of Supervisors have condemned a canal, fearing that by diverting water from the Sacramento River, saltwater will be drawn into the Delta from San Francisco Bay, crippling agriculture.
And once water can be funneled around the Delta, locals worry there will be less incentive to pay for levee repair and upkeep. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090819/A_NEWS14/908190318/-1/rss14
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