World Water Crisis (LIFE)

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U.S. NEWS
NOVEMBER 5, 2009.California Passes Water Deal
Bills Would Buttress Supply Amid Drought; $11.1 Billion in Bonds to Be Put to Vote

By JIM CARLTON
The California Legislature passed the most sweeping water deal in nearly a half century, potentially setting the stage for billions of dollars in new dams and handing Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a major political victory on one of the state's most intractable issues.

In a series of bills that cleared the Legislature in largely bipartisan votes early Wednesday after all-night sessions, California's water supply would be buttressed through steps such as mandatory monitoring of groundwater reserves and expanded conservation. A new agency will unify efforts to improve the way water from California's wet north is channeled to the arid south via the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.



Associated Press
A firefighter protects a house in a Los Angeles suburb in August. California's three-year drought is increasing fire risks.

The Legislature also signed off on a plan to ask the state's voters next November to pass $11.1 billion in bonds to help finance new infrastructure and water ecosystem restoration, especially in places like the delta.

The deal caps years of wrangling over how to stretch California's water supplies amid a growing population and frequent droughts. California is currently grappling with a three-year drought, which has resulted in severe water cutbacks across the nation's most populous state. Mr. Schwarzenegger, who said he would sign the bills, began the water-overhaul process three years ago. In early October, he threatened to veto hundreds of unrelated bills unless lawmakers agreed to keep working on a deal.

"Without clean, reliable water, we cannot build, we cannot farm, we cannot grow and we cannot prosper," Mr. Schwarzenegger said. "That is why I am so proud that the legislature, Democrats and Republicans, came together and tackled one of the most complicated issues in our state's history."

The water package was controversial in part because of a provision in the bond deal to use about $3 billion for new storage projects, which could include dams. Democrats who dominate the statehouse have largely opposed new dams, while Republicans led by Mr. Schwarzenegger have supported them. The deal to include money for possible dams was one of the compromises in the package.

Another compromise came on the issue of mandatory monitoring of the state's groundwater supplies, which are often tapped during times of drought. Many Democrats wanted the monitoring, which has been optional, done by the state, if local agencies failed to do it. But some Republicans insisted the monitoring be handled locally to help allay fears among some water agencies of too much state intrusion. Under the deal, local agencies will do the monitoring.

State Sen. Fran Pavley, a Democrat who backed state monitoring, called the deal "a first step" and praised the overall package. "With California in the midst of a water crisis, it was imperative that we as lawmakers take action to protect the deteriorating delta ecosystem and ensure a reliable supply of water to our farms, our homes and our businesses," she said.

Some opponents of the package were already expressing their displeasure with the deal Wednesday. "We now have taxpayers who will be on the hook for the cost for new dams, which are 19th-century solutions to the problems with water," said Jim Metropolus, a Sierra Club lobbyist.

Write to Jim Carlton at [e-mail]

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A3
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125735167330328327.html#mod=todays_us_page_one