Water back in focus in Sacramento

From the Capital Ag Press:

Stalled efforts to deal with California’s water woes got a boost last week as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein met with state lawmakers and water stakeholders at the Capitol to reinvigorate the debate for a state water bond.

Schwarzenegger and Feinstein expressed optimism after the meeting that consensus on a comprehensive water fix can be found to place a bond on the November ballot.

Feinstein, in an audio statement issued by the governor’s office, said a legislative solution appears to be best way to forge ahead with a plan to address all of the state’s plumbing and environmental problems. She was heartened by the discussions with both Democratic and Republican leaders. “If that is transparent, everybody has an opportunity, but there has to be something that is bipartisan that comes out of it,” Feinstein said. “I found it very productive and very constructive and I think the key is to keep it together, to keep these people together.”

So far, progress has been elusive, with the main sticking point being dams. Republicans want them and the Democrats do not, saying that conservation efforts and ground storage will be enough. Feinstein supports building new reservoirs, saying that climate change conditions will demand more surface storage.

Schwarzenegger, who called a special session of the Legislature last year to deal with water issues, remained hopeful that progress can be made to craft a water deal even as the state faces a massive $15 billion budget shortfall.

“Despite our current budget emergency, we still must address the severe water shortages that we are facing with court-ordered reductions in deliveries to Southern California, the Bay Area and the Central Valley,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “It is critical that we stay focused on rebuilding our water infrastructure – the economy, the environment, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and 25 million Californians depend on us finding a solution. The longer we wait the worse and more complicated the problem will get.”

To read the full text of this article from the Capital Ag Press, click here.

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