Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

At last, Legislature passes a water bill

We'll admit we had our doubts over whether our polarized Legislature could somehow pass a much-needed package of bills to meet the water needs of California's 38 million residents.

But early Wednesday morning, lawmakers approved landmark legislation to improve the state's broken water system.

This is a package that some long-warring groups finally agreed to support. Chief among them were environmentalists and San Joaquin Valley farmers.

While the bills are far from perfect, they represent a compromise that's historic given the contentious nature of California water issues.

The package has a water bond that farmers needed before they would sign off on the legislation. The $11.14 billion would help build dams and underground water banks to capture excess water in wet years to be used during drought years.

The bond also would help pay for Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta restoration as well as regional water projects.

But there's a catch. Voters must approve the bond at the November 2010 election. That's not a sure thing, and we hope all parties involved in this deal commit to getting the bond passed next year.

At the heart of fixing California's water system is upgrading the delta. Most of the water for farms and the drinking water for millions of Southern Californians flows through the delta. It has environmental problems and structural problems, including levees that are about to fail.

Lawmakers stopped short of approving a canal around the delta, but established an oversight council that must adopt a management plan for the estuary by 2012. A canal to move Northern California water south is expected to be the ultimate solution.

Gov. Schwarzenegger played a crucial role in keeping all of the parties negotiating for months. Several times various interests threatened to walk away from the sensitive talks, and the Schwarzenegger team helped keep the negotiations going. San Joaquin Valley residents also can thank the governor for demanding that a water bond be included in the package of bills. Without his threat of vetoing the entire package, the funding for dams could have been dropped.

State Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, and Assembly Member Mike Villines, R-Clovis, stood strong for the valley as other lawmakers attempted to block the bond money for water facilities.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento also played a key role, although his attempt to include $10 million for a pet project almost got the bill rejected. Steinberg wisely pulled the project for his district out of the bill just before the Assembly voted.

Critics have already started picking apart the legislation and we're sure there are elements to dislike. But you can't take on an issue as massive as the California water system and please everyone.

The only alternative to the water package was no action. That wouldn't have helped anyone — not farmers, cities, environmentalists or endangered species.