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As supplies dry up, pressure to solve water pinch builds

Lack of consensus adds to state's crisis

By Michael Gardner
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

July 24, 2007

SACRAMENTO ? Long conflicted over water, Californians soon may be asked to set aside past prejudices and move forward on building reservoirs and a new system to carry water south.

Warnings of looming shortages are coming from several fronts: climate changes linked to global warming threaten to prolong a worrisome dry spell, the state's population continues to grow and perhaps one-third of Southern California's deliveries from the north may be needed to forestall an environmental crisis

In the Sacramento Delta.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is certain to repeat those concerns when he tours a shrinking San Diego County reservoir today as part of a statewide campaign to promote a proposed $5.9 billion bond measure that includes funding for two reservoirs, delta restoration and conservation.

The backdrop for the governor's pitch will be a half-full Sweetwater Reservoir, which provides water to 177,000 residents of National City, Bonita and parts of Chula Vista. The residents' other reservoir, Loveland, is 55 percent full.

The governor is expected to highlight conservation programs and stress the importance of water to a region at the end of the pipeline ? a note not lost on many who remember the 1987-1992 drought.

?We were really concerned we could have the water turned off on us at any time,? said Joe Panetta, president of Biocom, a coalition of 37 San Diego-area life-sciences companies.

Panetta will tout the governor's proposals this morning.

?We have to look at this from a long-term perspective. . . . We cannot deal with this on a crisis basis,? he said. Water is just as important as energy, Panetta said.

?It's not about getting the roof fixed when it's raining,? he said. ?How do you recruit and retain and grow companies if you cannot assure them of water??

Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders are under mounting pressure to break years of stalemate on new statewide water projects or risk drying up flows that nourish the environment and the economy from San Diego to Redding. The governor and legislative leaders say they will concentrate next month on reaching a compromise that could be sent to voters as early as February.

Yet they remain far apart on crucial issues: where and whether to build reservoirs and a new canal to carry water through the delta and who should pay.

Senate Democrats, in proposing a $5 billion bond plan, say they are hesitant to endorse new reservoirs, citing cost and environmental considerations. Instead, they favor awarding grants to regional priorities that encourage conservation, filling aquifers and expanding existing above-ground reservoirs, such as San Vicente in San Diego County.

Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, D-Oakland, said he prefers to focus on projects that generally have public support ?rather than re-living the water wars of the past over false choices like dams and canals.?

Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, challenges that thinking. He says Californians will accept environmentally sensitive facilities that could benefit people, business and wildlife.

?It can be done. It must be done,? Cogdill said.

The new round of water negotiations will start even before lawmakers and Schwarzenegger can settle on how to spend $918 million provided by voters last year in two water-related bond measures.

Moving water is as much of an issue as storing water. A federal judge in September is expected to determine just how much water the state can pump to Southern California without driving the endangered delta smelt to extinction.

The governor is pitching a new delivery system to carry water through the delta, dredging up painful memories of the failed 1982 Peripheral Canal campaign that split the state and fostered years of north-south mistrust that still lingers.

Many Democrats and some environmental groups fear a new channel could lead to more urban demand and higher costs at the expense of fish and wildlife.

?That's the caboose on the train,? said Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis. ?It's been a non-starter.?

But just as many believe new thinking is needed ? whether it's a canal or managing existing rivers to be more fish friendly.

Meanwhile, water officials across the state are imploring the governor and lawmakers to act.

The San Diego County Water Authority has endorsed the governor's bond proposal, citing the convergence of climate change, growth and drought. The dry spell along the Colorado River has drawn the specter of rationing ever closer.

?This is the time to be moving forward,? said Fern Steiner, chairwoman of the water authority board.

The board has moved aggressively to increase local storage, including mapping plans for a $552 million raising of San Vicente Dam. The board is ?ready to roll? on a 54-foot addition, Steiner said, but is waiting to determine whether the state will provide some funding to stack an additional 63 feet of concrete, bringing the expansion to 117 feet.

At that height, storage at San Vicente would increase by 100,000 acre-feet, enough to serve 200,000 households a year. In addition, an additional 52,000 acre-feet could be held for emergencies.

In Northern California, the tiny Delta Smelt has sent water managers into near panic.

State and federal pumps, predators and pollution are being blamed for the fish's plummeting numbers. The smelt is considered an indicator of the overall health of the Sacramento Delta, which carries two-thirds of the state's drinking water to 25 million residents. Forty percent of the San Diego County region's supplies flow through the delta, a 1,100-mile maze of waterways.

Environmentalists have petitioned to sharply curtail pump operations to protect the smelt. An Alameda County Superior Court ruling slowed the pumps for nine days in June, dramatically cutting deliveries and forcing Southern California to accelerate plans for reductions next year if the pumps cannot run at capacity.

Separately, a federal district court is looking at submissions on how state and federal agencies plan to protect smelt.

It's possible that the courts could force drastic reductions in deliveries to a broad range of users, from the Silicon Valley to Los Angeles.

?We are in crisis mode,? said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. ?I don't think that word is too strong.?

Quinn fears a court order could force the state's pumps near Tracy to be curtailed by as much as one-third.

Schwarzenegger, through his bond proposal, is pushing to finance numerous projects he says are necessary to guard against natural disaster and drought. He wants to shore up levees, protect roads and guard pipelines and rail lines.

?Let's fix the delta once and for all,? Schwarzenegger said last week.