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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Editorial:
Flaws in water deal make bond hard to swallow<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Mercury
News Editorial<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#000088'>Posted: 11/06/2009 07:34:02 PM PST<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#000088'>Updated: 11/06/2009 07:34:05 PM PST<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>California's
comprehensive water package may go down in history as Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's greatest bipartisan accomplishment. But the plan has a deep
flaw, and it depends on voter passage of a whopping $11 billion bond measure
next November — a stretch indeed if there's any organized opposition and
if the economy, especially job growth, is still weak.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>That
any agreement was achieved is little short of a miracle in this political
climate in Sacramento. Both Democrats and Republicans compromised, a sadly rare
occurrence, so it's painful to second-guess the deal. But one provision does
the state a disservice: While urban areas will be asked to cut their water use
20 percent, agriculture, which uses 80 percent of the state's water, is not
required to work for conservation.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Anyone
who has seen the sprinklers spraying into 100-degree sunshine on summer
afternoons in the Central Valley knows that ag could save some water. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>More
conservation in the plan could have reduced the need for costly and
environmentally damaging dams that ran up the cost of that bond, which will
require up to $700 million a year in general fund dollars to service the debt. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Of
course the danger of doing nothing to fix the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta is greater: some $40 billion in economic impact when a flood or
earthquake inevitably brings down the deteriorating levees, more than a
thousand of which now protect fertile farmland and thousands of lives.
Restoring the health of the delta, which supplies about half of Silicon
Valley's water supply, is Job One. But the cost of that is just over $2
billion. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>It's a
shame the bond ballooned so large because the governor and the Legislature did
very well on the rest of the reforms, including the idea for a new governing
board for the delta, provisions to monitor groundwater throughout the state and
the introduction of new conservation targets for urban water users.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>The
groundwater monitoring legislation could eventually lead to smarter controls
and better conservation, even for agriculture — but there's a reason that
farmers in the Central Valley are among the most enthusiastic supporters of the
water deal. They pretty much skate.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>It was
inevitable that any deal trying to please environmentalists, farmers and urban
water districts would have some flaws. It's possible that, by next fall, in an
improving economy, and with more study to understand just what's included in
that massive $11 billion bond — and what possibilities still might exist
to press ag for conservation — the plan will seem reasonable overall to
ensure a steady and safe water supply.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>But the
risk to the levees is so great that an alternative bond proposal for next
November's ballot might be in order. If voters seem unlikely to agree to do it
all, including dams and a possible peripheral canal around the delta, surely
they'll see the wisdom of at least doing the essentials such as fixing the
levees. It's something to think about over the winter. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black'><br clear=all>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
cell</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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