Calif. lawmakers strike landmark water-supply deal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lawmakers capped months of discussions, weeks of tedious negotiations and years of chasing a water deal with approval of major legislation in a marathon session that ended Wednesday as the sun rose.

The package, which includes an $11.1 billion bond that must go before voters, would nudge California in new directions on water policy while giving something to each of the major factions that have warred over the state's supplies.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bond and four companion bills that would change how the state uses water and manages the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the estuary that funnels freshwater from Northern to Southern California, where most people live.

The measure would establish a statewide program that for the first time would measure if too much water is being pumped from underground aquifers. It mandates an overall 20 percent drop in the state's per-capita water use by 2020 and creates a politically appointed council to oversee management of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The bond measure — decried as pork barrel by some legislators — would shower money around the state for new storage, watershed improvements, delta restoration, recycling and groundwater cleanup.

Proponents heaped the measure with superlatives, saying they broke a decades-old deadlock on water policy.

The bond has to be approved by voters, a gamble in a time of gaping budget deficits and job losses. The big infrastructure projects it would fund are years away from construction. Mending the crippled delta is far from a sure thing.

The package's broad scope is, in part, a recognition that the good old days are gone and that the state must embrace new approaches to meet its water needs.

"This is California slowly and painfully coming to terms with a static water supply," said Phil Isenberg, a former legislator who has wrestled with water issues for years.

"This is not about me," said Schwarzenegger, who hounded the Legislature to take action on water. "This is about California. This is about California's future."

The package had its share of critics. Some environmental groups complained the policy changes were meek and new reservoirs and canals would hurt collapsing salmon fisheries.

"Our big, big concern is that it really sets the stage for new conveyance and surface storage, which will further diminish the water needed by the estuary to maintain the fisheries," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.

The legislation does not specifically authorize a proposed aqueduct to skirt the delta, nor does the bond pay for it. But the new council helps clear the way for a bypass canal. Schwarzenegger said Wednesday: "This will build the canal in order to protect the delta."