Thread: California lawmakers approve $11B water overhaul

California lawmakers approve $11B water overhaul

By By SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press Writer

Originally published November 4, 2009 at 9:04 a.m.,
updated November 4, 2009 at 9:59 a.m.

SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers on Wednesday passed an $11 billion overhaul of the state's antiquated water system in a bid to supply a soaring population while preserving a fragile environment.

After a long night of debate, the state Assembly voted in favor of the comprehensive package of water bills and a bond measure to fund them.
The Senate also approved.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was expected to sign the five-bill package.

The plan provides funding for new dams, groundwater cleanup, conservation and habitat restoration. It gives Schwarzenegger comprehensive tools to begin restoring the crucial Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and create a stable water supply for cities in Southern California and farmers in the Central Valley.

"Water is the lifeblood of everything we do in California. Without clean, reliable water, we cannot build, we cannot farm, we cannot grow, and we cannot prosper," Schwarzenegger said.

Lawmakers have wrangled for years over how to upgrade the water system. The problems became more acute this year when farmers faced a third dry year with less snowfall and new pumping restrictions to protect a delta fish.

Democrats and Republicans spent months hashing out a strategy intended to change how water is used in California and how to better manage the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The water plan includes creation of a seven-member governing council to oversee the delta that funnels fresh water from Northern to Southern California, where most of the state's population lives. The maze of earthen levees is susceptible to earthquakes that could halt pumping for months.

Federal courts and agencies have ordered reductions in pumping to protect he delta's collapsing ecosystem.

Legislators want to require California cities to use 20 percent less water by 2020, although large urban areas such as Los Angeles and San Francisco would not have to meet such a high threshold because per-capita water use is lower than other parts of the state.

At the center of the new water package is the bond that has grown over the past two days to more than $11 billion. The Senate had passed a $9.9 billion version earlier in the week but the Assembly added more money for water recycling and conservation programs.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009 ... -overhaul/

I am going to post my California solution whenever a news story is about their financial or population problems.

This story mentioned soaring population causing problems.

My Solution to fix all of California's woes:
part 1: Stop all forms of welfare payments to anyone who can not prove they are a legal citizen - and this includes parents of anchor/jackpot babies. This includes free education & free lunches. Prison/incarceration expenses would have to continue.

Part 2: Drill, drill, drill. On shore, off shore, where ever oil and gas are found. This will create good paying jobs and a tax revenue boom.

After a short adjustment period, billions would Not be flowing out to illegals and billions would be flowing IN from taxes and fees on the booming oil business. Additional benefits: Americans can now have all the jobs illegal-invaders stole from them, crime will go way down, drunk driving will go down, hospitals won't have to shut down because of unreimbursed expenses, all the benefits of lower population and a renewed respect for the law.

Originally Posted by EuropeanDescendant

I am going to post my California solution whenever a news story is about their financial or population problems.

This story mentioned soaring population causing problems.

My Solution to fix all of California's woes:
part 1: Stop all forms of welfare payments to anyone who can not prove they are a legal citizen - and this includes parents of anchor/jackpot babies. This includes free education & free lunches. Prison/incarceration expenses would have to continue.

Part 2: Drill, drill, drill. On shore, off shore, where ever oil and gas are found. This will create good paying jobs and a tax revenue boom.

After a short adjustment period, billions would Not be flowing out to illegals and billions would be flowing IN from taxes and fees on the booming oil business. Additional benefits: Americans can now have all the jobs illegal-invaders stole from them, crime will go way down, drunk driving will go down, hospitals won't have to shut down because of unreimbursed expenses, all the benefits of lower population and a renewed respect for the law.

Your plan doesn't do anything to move water from northern CA. to southern CA. and the central valley farm areas where it is needed because of the 3 year drought, which is what this article is about.

The original story mentioned water shortage in relation to population problems - I posted a solution to cut back on population - the illegal variety of population. Less population uses less water - partial solution.

Also, it is my understanding that part of the valley's water problems are due to water being shut off to save a 2" little minnow. Both Nasty Pelousy and the obamanation support keeping that water shut off. Simply turn it back on. Perhaps some sort of wire screen can be put up around the intake pipes - to settle down the econuts.

Deleted by JD2.

I meant to send a private message.

Originally Posted by EuropeanDescendant

. . .Also, it is my understanding that part of the valley's water problems are due to water being shut off to save a 2" little minnow. Both Nasty Pelousy and the obamanation support keeping that water shut off. Simply turn it back on. Perhaps some sort of wire screen can be put up around the intake pipes - to settle down the econuts.

Pelosi and Obama have nothing to do with this.

2 federal judges ordered the water shut off more than a year ago, before Obama was elected.

If a wire screen would solve this problem don't you think someone in this controversy would have done that years ago? You are over simplifying the problem.


Federal directive to cut California water delivery
- Los Angeles Times Jun 5, 2009 ...

A federal judge last year ruled that the agency had erred and ordered it ... Thursday's announcement will stress California's water system, ...
articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/05/local/me-salmon5

A little background info:

Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The Sacramento River flows into the delta from the north and the San Joaquin River from the south through Stockton.

[edit] Description
The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is an example of an inverted river delta, one of only a few worldwide. It is the largest estuary on the United States' Pacific Coast.[1] The fan-shaped area of the delta converges downstream, rather than diverging, as the two rivers are forced to exit the Central Valley through the Coast Range via the narrow channel known as the Carquinez Strait, which leads to the San Francisco Bay and ultimately the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate.

The delta consists of myriad small natural and man-made channels (locally called sloughs), creating a system of isolated lowland islands and wetlands defined by dikes or levees. The delta islands are not islands in the classic sense, but are referred to as such because they are completely surrounded by water and are so isolated in many cases that they are accessible only by boat, ferry or aircraft.

An extensive system of earthen levees has allowed wide-spread farming throughout the delta. Its peat soil makes it one of the most fertile agricultural areas in California and arguably even the nation, contributing billions of dollars to the state's economy. Certain specialty crops, such as asparagus, are grown in the delta in quantities unmatched anywhere else in the United States.

The delta and its "Thousand Miles of Waterways" are a recreation destination. The warm, breezy summers are popular among water skiers and boaters and even the chilly, foggy winters draw fishermen and hunters.

[edit] Development
The delta is an estuary which acts as the funneling point for a watershed covering thousands of square miles of California's interior. On its way to the Pacific Ocean, runoff flows through the delta from several major mountain ranges, including virtually the entire western flank of the Sierra Nevada, the southern reaches of the Cascades, and the eastern flanks of those parts of the coast range that border the central valley. For thousands of years, huge swaths of the delta flooded regularly with every spring melt, and the delta represented one of the largest estuaries on North America's west coast.

Starting in the late 19th century, Chinese workers were used to construct hundreds of miles of levees throughout the delta's waterways in an effort to reclaim and preserve farmland and control flooding. These levees confine waterflow to the riverbeds.

Levee failures in the delta can result in the flooding of vast tracts of both agricultural land and developed cities. On 3 June 2004, a 350 foot (110 m) section of a levee 10 mi (16 km) west of Stockton collapsed, flooding the Upper and Lower Jones Tracts, a 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) island.[2] Tens of thousands of people live near these levees (in many cases, right next to them), in scores of communities ranging from Tracy in the south to Stockton in the east, Sacramento in the north, and the San Francisco Bay Area in the west. In light of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster affecting similarly low-lying river delta regions in Louisiana and Mississippi, there has been a strong outcry for the state of California and/or the federal government to thoroughly inspect and, if necessary, strengthen and repair the delta's levees.

[edit] Construction and history

Clamshell dredge used during construction. The total area is around 1,100 square miles, around 70 reclaimed islands and tracts, surrounded by 1,100 miles of levees surrounded by 700 miles of waterways. The delta was originally marshland; reclamation was made by the building of levees, by Chinese laborers in the 1850s.

A typical levee was constructed as being approximately trapezoidal, 10 ft above original ground level, and approximately 30 ft wide at the base rock armoured on the river side. The construction was a colossal engineering undertaking.

[edit] Current status
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is facing serious problems headed into the second decade of the 21st century. After Hurricane Katrina, concerns emerged about the security of its levees. The 2004 Jones Tract Levee Break, which flooded 12,000 acres (4,900 ha), did little to assuage those worries. Gradual developments of sea level rise, land subsidence and regional climate change add still more pressure to the levees.

Further, the Delta's fish population is in question. The Delta is home to approximately 22 species of fish including the Delta smelt, a key indicator species for the health of the Delta's ecosystem, was found in 2004 to be on the edge of extinction.[1]

The administration of the region is also in flux. CALFED, a federal-state program in charge of the Delta, is on the verge of financial insolvency.

A number of solutions have been proposed. A first set of alternatives would maintain the Delta in its current homogeneous freshwater state. The second would return the Delta to a heterogeneous mixed salt water-fresh water body, and would serve in the Delta's current water-supply with a series of aqueducts. A third, extreme, set would abandon the Delta as a resource.

The Contra Costa County Public Works Department is working with the California Coastal Commission and the Department of Boating and Waterways to protect the drinking water quality, prevent pollution and environmental health of the Delta.[1]

A strong movement is emerging to construct a Peripheral Canal to redirect water flowing from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers directly to man-made aqueducts headed south and west. Senator Diane Feinstein, D. CA., and Governor Arnold Schwarznegger have both declared their support for such a project.

All solutions, however, aim to produce a Delta which simultaneously supports a vibrant ecosystem and continues to supply fresh water to the Central Valley Project, the State Water Project and the Bay Area.[3]

In April 2009, the Sacramento River Delta was declared the nation's most endangered waterway system by the environmental group American Rivers, due to water shortages caused by the Delta's environmental problems, declining fish populations and aging levees, among other problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento ... iver_Delta