U.S. Water News Online
SACRAMENTO -- California must build new dams and change how it channels water to more than two-thirds of the state's residents through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a panel appointed by the governor said.
The seven-member Delta Vision task force stopped short of saying where dams should be built or whether water should be piped around or through the delta to cities, farmers and wildlife. The report, which comes 10 months after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed his task force, says the state should assess the various routes that could funnel water to Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area.
"These are tough political decisions," said Phil Isenberg, chairman of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force. "Still unanswered are the basic questions -- how big is the size, what does it cost?"
Changing how California moves water was one of 12 strategies the panel said should be followed to restore the ailing delta and secure the state's water supplies.
Drinking water for two-thirds of the state's residents passes through the delta, a tangle of rivers, canals, estuaries and islands that stretches from the foot of the Sierra Nevada to San Francisco Bay.
Members of the task force as well as water experts throughout the state have said building some sort of canal or pipeline to move river water around the delta would safeguard deliveries against levee breaks, rising sea levels and wildlife needs.
Studies in the last few years have shown large parts of the delta's 1,600-mile levee system could crumble during an earthquake of magnitude 6.5 or greater. That could cut off water deliveries for several years.
Task force members will spend next year coming up with a more detailed plan for the delta, and they directed California Federal Bay-Delta Program to assess the design and cost of piping water through and around the delta. The panel gave themselves until June to make a final recommendation on the best system.
The recommendations embrace key initiatives that Republicans and Democrats have promoted in a bid to get a water bond on the February 2008 ballot. However, those talks have stalled over disputes about dams.
Schwarzenegger has promoted building two new dams and expanding a third to shore up the state's water supplies as part of his $10.3 billion water bond proposal. But his proposal lacks any money for building a canal -- even though he supports the concept.
The task force said dams and changes in how the state moves water must be linked.
Aaron McLear, the governor's spokesman, said Schwarzenegger's proposal requires the Department of Water Resources to consider the task force's recommendations -- including changes in how water is routed -- as it develops a statewide water plan.
"We can't afford to wait any longer to invest in new surface and groundwater storage, new conveyance facilities, conservation measures and increased regional water self sufficiency," McLear said in a statement.
Democrats have been skeptical about dedicating state money to build dams without any legislative oversight. Instead, their $6.8 billion bond proposal would allow cities and counties to compete for state money and create their own solutions, which could include building local reservoirs or pumping water into groundwater aquifers.
The legislative drive behind a water bond comes in part by a federal court order that will force California to cut its water deliveries from the delta by a third starting in December. The reduced pumping is intended to protect the threatened delta smelt.
Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, chair of the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, said lawmakers should wait until the task force has completed its full analysis before the Legislature crafts a bond.
"They still have another year of work to do," Wolk said. "Once we have examined their vision, then we fund their recommendations."
Whatever design is selected to move water from north to south, task force members said California must immediately invest in fortifying its existing system of levees and pumping operations. At the same time, the local and state government must encourage conservation and more efficient water use, which the report describes as the fastest way to get additional water.
The report concludes that water deliveries -- which task force members say will be reduced in the future -- should no longer take priority over the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's wildlife. Instead, the panel said both interests are of equal value.
However, exports could be increased if the delta's ecosystem is restored and a new system is put in place to send water to cities and farmers, said Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors Association.
The report also discourages new housing in the floodplains of the delta, asks local and state governments to develop emergency response plans and recommends creating a new entity to govern the region.
"If there's a lesson the nation learned from Hurricane Katrina, it's the price of waiting," said task force member Raymond Seed, a civil engineer who headed a team of investigators in New Orleans for the University of California at Berkeley.
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