Report: State Must Rethink Its Water System

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Overhauling how California uses, moves and stores water while protecting the environment will come at a steep cost, according to a report released Friday.

Meeting the long-term water needs of a growing population -- now at nearly 38 million -- while balancing protections for water quality and wildlife could cost between $12 billion and $24 billion over the next 10 to 15 years. The cost could be as high as $80 billion, according to a draft plan sent to a task force formed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At the heart of the state's massive water storage and delivery system is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the region targeted by Schwarzenegger's task force.

The staff report outlines recommendations for improving the delta's ecosystem, building a canal or pipeline to move drinking and irrigation water around the delta, and strengthening the region's levees.

It also recommends an entirely new government entity to oversee the delta. The entity would decide how and when water should be exported to farmers and cities in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area.

Drinking water for two-thirds of the state passes through the delta -- a tangle of rivers, canals, estuaries and islands that stretches from the foot of the northern and central Sierra Nevada to San Francisco Bay.

It also is the source of irrigation water for thousands of acres of cropland.

Yet the delta is a highly troubled ecosystem, plagued by crashing fish populations, pollution from farms and invading plant and animal species. Its environmental problems have prompted lawsuits that in turn have led to court decisions regarding when and how the state can use water from the delta.

Those factors have led experts to conclude that without major changes the delta no longer will be a reliable resource for Californians or the species that live there.

It was against that backdrop that Schwarzenegger formed the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force a year ago and charged it with finding solutions.

The staff report released Friday said it is crucial for California to protect the water supply that passes through the delta and its ecosystem.

"Actions taken to manage the delta must secure the future of both, rather than encouraging one to thrive at the expense of the other," the report said.

Among the recommendations is building a canal or pipeline to route some fresh water around the delta and into aqueducts that would carry it to cities and farms. A so-called peripheral canal was tried once before, but voters soundly rejected the idea.

Water users in Southern California say piping fresh water around the delta would safeguard their water supply while also leaving the delta undisturbed for fish and other species.

Northern Californians, who led the previous revolt against the canal, fear such a system would divert more water south. Those who farm in the delta worry their water supply would grow saltier if too much fresh water is diverted.

In addition to building a canal or pipeline around the delta, the report recommends lowering exports in dry years when river levels are low.

It also sets a spring 2009 deadline for the completion of long-awaited environmental studies for three potential dams -- Sites Reservoir in a valley north of Sacramento, the Temperance Flat Reservoir in the Sierra foothills above Fresno and the expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County.

The report acknowledges that the state's water problems cannot be met by new canals and dams alone. It recommends farmers and cities invest in water-efficiency and conservation programs and promotes water recycling, storm water capture and groundwater storage.

Developers should be required to install water-efficient devices in new homes and commercial buildings and show that any new development would not deplete California rivers or streams, the report said.

At the same time, the draft plan calls for the creation of new tidal marshes, wetlands and floodplains to help revitalize the delta's native species and improve flood control.

The report said the state's water system must be updated, evolving from the one that supplied the state for half a century but did so at a great cost to the state's ecosystems.

"Just as the state became a world leader in water engineering, it will now have to become a world leader in ecosystem revitalization, water conservation and regional self-sufficiency," the report stated.

The spending proposals included in the report appear to bolster Schwarzenegger's call for a $10.3 billion water bond, which he hopes the Legislature will place on the November ballot.

He wants to provide funding to build dams and give cities grants to boost their own water supplies, but the Republican governor has been unable to strike a deal with the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

The task force's final blueprint is due to the governor in October.