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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;background:white;border:none;
padding:0in'><b><font size=5 color=black face=Helvetica><span lang=EN
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:bold'>A Rare
Opportunity for Change: <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s
Five New Water Bills<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:
white'><font size=3 color=black face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica'><img width=68 height=68 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01CA19DA.DE0E6250"
alt="A Rare Opportunity for Change: California's Five New Water Bills"
class=mug><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:6.75pt;background:white'><b><font size=2
color=black face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:
Helvetica;font-weight:bold'>Barry Nelson<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;background:white'><font size=2
color=black face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Helvetica'>Western Water Project Director, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;background:white'><font size=2
color=black face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Helvetica'><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/bnelson/">Blog</a> </span></font><font
size=2 color="#999999" face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica;color:#999999'>|</span></font><font size=2
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Helvetica'> <a
href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/bnelson/about/">About</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;background:white'><font size=2
color=black face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Helvetica'>Posted August 10, 2009 in <a
href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/issues/health_and_the_environment/">Health
and the Environment</a> , <a
href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/issues/solving_global_warming/">Solving
Global Warming</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>I have been working on <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
water issues for 25 years, and I've learned that major opportunities for
transformative change doesn't come around too often. Now is one of those times.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>Late last week, the California Legislature <a
href="http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-water5-2009aug05,0,5401722.story?track=rss">released</a>
a package of five major water reform bills (find links to each bill <a
href="http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/peter-gleick-new-water-legislation-in-california/">here</a>).
Like many others who work on water issues, I'm still combing through
them. But I can already sense that this is an opportunity to lift <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> out of our
current water crisis and into an economically and environmentally sustainable future.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>Why is this happening now? For starters, the state finally has a
budget, and lawmakers are turning to other pressing issues. What is interesting
is that water has now risen to the top two or three priorities of our
legislature.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>Three things are driving this new sense of urgency:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
6.0pt;margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;
background:white'><![if !supportLists]><font size=2 color=black face=Symbol><span
lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font
size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on"><font face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-family:Helvetica'>California</span></font></st1:place></st1:State><font
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-family:Helvetica'> has had three
consecutive dry years.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
6.0pt;margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;
background:white'><![if !supportLists]><font size=2 color=black face=Symbol><span
lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font
size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font face=Helvetica><span
lang=EN style='font-family:Helvetica'>Californians have a growing awareness
that global warming is threatening our fragile water resources. Sea level rise
threatens the Delta and the prospect of reduced runoff and more severe droughts
is expected to reduce existing supplies. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
6.0pt;margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;
background:white'><![if !supportLists]><font size=2 color=black face=Symbol><span
lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font
size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font face=Helvetica><span
lang=EN style='font-family:Helvetica'>The San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem has
cratered and our salmon fishery has been closed. We have clearly reached the
limit on how much we can take from it--the largest single source of water in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>Today, it's a challenge to find anyone who believes that the
course of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
water policy over the past decade will be sustainable in the future. This
emerging reality has prompted some high-level reaction. In September of 2006,
the governor and the legislature commissioned the Delta Vision Task Force to
write an ambitious new plan for the future of the Delta. That <a
href="http://deltavision.ca.gov/BlueRibbonTaskForce/FinalVision/Delta_Vision_Final.pdf">plan</a>
was completed and submitted to the legislature in December of 2007. In
February of 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger also announced that he wants <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> to decrease
per capita water use 20 percent by 2020.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President pro Tem Darrel
Steinberg responded to these developments by convening a small legislative
working group. After lengthy discussions within that group, Bass and
Steinberg released a package of five heavily amended water bills. The package
includes cost-effective measures for conserving and using <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s water more efficiently in order
to achieve the governor's water conservation goal. NRDC and the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California are co-sponsoring this
legislation, which is being carried by Assemblymembers Mike Feuer and Jared
Huffman. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>The package also takes the bold and much-needed step of proposing
major reforms to the state's water agencies. The Delta Vision Task Force
concluded that "governance reform" is required to resolve issues in
the Delta because the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s
current fractured and antiquated agencies are simply not up to the job. The
bills would create a new Stewardship Council to manage the Delta, require the
development of a comprehensive Delta plan to address ecosystem, water supply
and flood management issues, establish a new Delta Conservancy to implement
restoration projects, and strengthen the powers of the Delta Protection
Commission to regulate inappropriate land use in the Delta.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>As I study the bills more closely, I'll have more detailed
recommendations for improvements. But I welcome this opportunity for reform.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>You see, we really can change the way water management works in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>. I have seen
it before, although not on such a sweeping scale. Back in 1992, Congress passed
the<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>Central Valley Project Improvement Act to make the project more
responsive to the environmental and economic needs of the state.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>The CVPIA changed the landscape pretty substantially. Prior to the
law, the Bureau of Reclamation claimed it did not have the authority to protect
endangered species. Now we have two new federal biological opinions requiring
the CVP to protect Delta species listed under the ESA (see my colleague Doug
Obegi's post about this <a
href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dobegi/we_dont_need_to_sacrifice_enda.html">here</a>).
Today, no one at the Bureau questions the need to protect these vanishing
species. The law was also designed to promote water transfers. Today,
there is a thriving water transfer system among agricultural water agencies
south of the Delta.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>The package of five bills before the legislature has the potential
to have an even bigger impact - but on a broader set of water issues.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>AB 49, for example, could make water conservation
strategies--things like smart irrigation controllers-- business as usual. And
all Californians would benefit from agency reform that allowed <a
href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/bnelson/the_once_and_future_delta.html">the
resolution of difficult Delta issues</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:18.0pt;background:white'><font size=3 color=black
face=Helvetica><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;
color:black'>These times don't come around too often. I hope our lawmakers
seize the moment. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, JcT, Chair</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810 cell</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">www.fotr.org</a> </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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