Conserve water, yes; but build, too
In parched California, nothing riles folks up more than a good water war. And that includes folks in Sacramento, where a whole slew of special interests -- farmers, farmworkers, environmentalists, developers, Northern California cities and Southern California cities -- are pressuring legislators over plans to improve the state's fragile water system.
Before they adjourned for their mid-summer break, lawmakers were locked in a months-long battle to close a $26 billion state budget gap. With state coffers running on fumes, California was doling out IOUs to its vendors, while Republicans and Democrats bickered. Very little else was accomplished.
Legislators returned to Sacramento a while back hoping to make progress on other pressing problems. At the top of the list must be fixing the collapsing San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta and increasing water supplies. No longer can this task be ignored or stalled.
The delta is where water from the Sierra Nevada mountains and Northern California meets saltwater from the San Francisco Bay, flows south to irrigate California's agricultural heartland and supplies Central and Southern California with drinking water.
The delta is a spaghetti bowl of rivers, canals and sloughs, some dug by hand at the turn of the century. Its islands support fertile farms and small towns. Its waterways provide recreation to boaters and fishermen.
Delta waterways are near collapse. Many fear an earthquake will wipe it away and cut off critical supplies to millions of Californians. But it doesn't take a big, bad earthquake to do damage. A beaver digging into a dirt bank is believed to have caused the multi-million dollar failure of the Upper Jones Tract, west of Stockton, just five years ago.
Environmental concerns, including the impact of water pumping on endangered fish species, has reduced the flow of water through the delta. San Joaquin Valley farmers and the workers left jobless as fields have dried up, simplistically characterized these concerns as "fish versus people."
While the debate between competing interests isn't new, California's water dilemma can no longer be ignored, or talked to death.
Republican and Democratic governors stretching back decades have studied proposals for fixing the delta and increasing California's water supply. They have all concluded some canal or bypass of the delta is needed to reduce pressure on the sensitive estuary; water storage must be increased; and Californians must conserve water.
Delta interests have long viewed a canal as a threat -- a rip-off of Northern California's water by the South that endangers water quality, fish habitat and recreation. Some environmentalists foolishly believe they can stop California's growth by cutting off its water.
Legislators are beginning to hold hearings on a Democratic-sponsored package of bills that would create an oversight body for the delta, boost statewide conservation, improve monitoring of water use and establish a commission to protect the delta community.
While these bills reflect the findings of an independent panel that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger established last year, the governor vows he will not sign legislation that does not include bonding to pay for the construction of water storage facilities, including new dams and reservoirs.
The governor is correct. Before the Legislature adjourns in mid-September, a package of bills must be passed that includes construction of dams, reservoirs and a water conveyance around the delta, as well as establishing oversight to protect the delta's water quality and supplies.
Protecting the delta is not a frivolous fish-versus-people environmental cause.
The entire state depends on the delta's continuing good health. But it also depends on having an adequate water supply.
