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This just in …. Legislators debating fate of water management plan

Posted by: Maven on September 11, 2009 at 10:11 pm

From Mike Taugher at the Silicon Valley Mercury News:

“The most ambitious attempt to reform California”s water management in decades was moving forward late Friday with the support of some key environmental groups and some of the state”s biggest water agencies.

Faced with a midnight deadline “” and the possibility of a time extension “” an Assembly committee passed the water policy reforms bill, but the fate of the package was still up in the air late Friday.

The package includes a sweeping reform of state water policy in one bill and a $12 billion bond package to help pay for it in another. It was dependent on the bond bill receiving two-thirds approval from the Legislature.

The bills would help move forward plans to build a controversial peripheral canal to carry water around the Delta, but would also set standards meant to ensure it was built without environmental harm.

First, the bills would guarantee an adequate flow of water remains in the Delta; second, they would require the plan for the canal lead to actual recovery of the Delta ecosystem rather than merely avoiding extinctions.

The bills also call for 20 percent improvement in urban water use efficiency, better enforcement of water rights and groundwater management, and revamping of the way the Delta and state water use is managed and enforced.

Environmentalists were split on whether the plan was a good idea. …”

Read more from the Silicon Valley Mercury News by clicking here.

September 11, 2009 · Filed Under Legislation - State & Federal

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