Fixing the Delta with Five Bills

“Our first priority when we return in August is to restore the draconian cuts to Health and Human Services.  Our second priority will be to take the next major steps on fashioning a set of solutions to our state’s water challenges: fixing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; establishing enforceable water conservation standards; better managing our groundwater and surface water supplies; providing funding for those new investments needed to bring the state’s water system into the 21st century,”  Caifornia Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said.  

Both the State Senate and Assembly are working towards finding a long term solution for the Sacramento River Delta.  Twenty five million Californians (two thirds of the state's population) rely on the Sacramento River Delta for the water they need for their lives and businesses.  

A set of five bills has been offered to bring solutions to the problems with the Delta.  The Delta area faces ecological problems with endangered species, problems with levees which may break and cause flooding, possible ocean saltwater intrusion of the Delta after an earthquake which renders the now salt water Delta unusable for drinking water, and other infrastructure issues.

The five bills being considered are:

AB 39 (Huffman) - Delta Plan

AB 49 (Feuer-Huffman) - Water Efficiency

SB 12 (Simitian) - Delta Stewardship Council

SB 229 (Paveley) - Delta Interim Actions, Water Rights, Groundwater

SB 458 (Wolk) - Delta Conservancy, Delta Protection Commission Revisions

In the Senate, the Natural Resources and Water Committee lead the process.  In the Assembly, the Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife lead the process.

The set of five bills was the result of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force.  The Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force identified seven goals to guide the management of the Delta:

1. Delta restoration must be founded on the co-equal goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration.
2. Recognize and enhance the unique cultural, recreational and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place. 
3. Restore the Delta ecosystem as the heart of a health estuary.
4. Promote statewide water conservation, efficiency and sustainable use.
5. Build facilities to improve the existing water conveyance system and expand statewide storage; operate both to achieve the equal goals.
6. Reduce risks to people, property and state interests in the Delta by effective emergency preparedness, appropriate land uses and strategic levee investments.
7. Establish a new governance structure with the authority, responsibility, accountability, scientific support and secure funding to achieve these goals.

Governor Schwarzenegger has criticized the package of five bills because a bond to fund water infrastructure and possible conflicts with the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).  A water infrastructure bond is needed to expand water storage capacity (both surface and groundwater storage), fund habitat restoration, and improve the water conveyance system.  Gov. Schwarznegger is concerned that the proposed five bill plan contradicts certain governance portions of the BDCP, may require starting the whole governance process over again, and may create a body without the needed legal authority to act.