From the Delta to the Colorado: Michael George Opines on California's Water Policy Deadlock

As the California budget stalemate drags on and as political attention turns to the conventions and presidential campaigns, now is a good time to assess the prospects for desperately needed progress on our state's impending water crisis. From my perspective, the budget, the political process, and the water crisis have become dangerously-and perhaps hopelessly-intertwined.

First, it is important for California-and Southern California in particular-to realize that a water crisis is upon us, with little time left for practical and effective reaction. All of our sources of imported water are under pressure, from growing demand, the need for environmental restoration, regulatory and legal gridlock, and long-term inattention to our infrastructure. Based on new limitations on importing water from the Colorado River and from Northern California through the Delta, Southern California must emphasize more stringent and intelligent conservation as well as improved management of local resources (particularly native groundwater and institutional arrangements). However, without real solutions to the challenges to our imported supplies, Southern California's economy, life-style, and vibrancy are at risk.

Second, crafting solutions to our imported water challenges requires not only good planning but also courageous, far-reaching, and non-partisan leadership in Sacramento-just at the time that political courage, a long-term perspective on problems, and willingness to reach across the aisle to find solutions have become no-shows in the capital. Each of the three branches of government has a role to play on water issues, and none of them is currently doing so constructively or consistently. The Governor appointed a task force to advise on practical strategies for solving both environmental and water conveyance risks in the Delta, but then preempted their advice by proposing programs tinged with an old "water wars" mentality that has constipated progress for too long. The Legislature seems determined to approach water policy from the Democratic/Republican litmus test surrounding surface storage (a euphemism for new dams and reservoirs). Stepping in to the breach because of lack of action by the Executive and Legislative Branches, the courts have placed limits on imports without facing the consequences of their actions, as we've come to expect based on the adversarial demands of the contending factions.

The on-going public policy stalemate on water is frustrating the real world consensus for constructive action that is emerging among professional water managers. To this group of water wonks (among whom I cautiously count myself), there has long been recognition that the current Delta (through which more than half of the water destined for Southern California must pass) is not sustainable. The inevitable flood or earthquake that will render the Delta a catastrophe for both the environment and the economy has been temporarily upstaged by the judge-made and severe restrictions on Delta water conveyance operations. The plethora of orders emanating from the courts may properly be seen as a last-ditch attempt to forestall the collapse of the Delta's ecosystem. So, the drought that will visit Southern California in the summer of 2009 is unlike past drought predictions, which could be overcome by a month or so of winter storms. This time-even if we get a blessedly wet winter-Southern California will be unable to access a potentially fortuitous turn in the weather.

There is something else that's different this time as well: there is a visible break-through in the long-term water standoff among environmentalists (who generally prefer more conservation to new projects), business interests (who generally assume-away water resource constraints on the economy), and water managers (who traditionally seek engineering solutions to water resource problems). Among these often-warring factions, there is an emerging consensus that the status quo is a hazard for everyone-an unacceptable state of affairs. What's more, all these groups seem to recognize that we are facing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to actually solve the most vexing challenges in the Delta. The post-partisan (or at least bi-partisan) Delta Visioning Task Force convened by the Governor has helped articulate a realistic long-term plan of action for the Delta with the twin and equal objectives of repairing its broken ecosystem and preserving its critical function as the state's water switching yard.

Unfortunately, recognizing the crisis as it approaches and crafting workable solutions to avoid, or at least mitigate, the risks associated with the crisis are not enough. We need our government to put aside partisan politics to carry out a solution that is merely good for everyone without holding that solution hostage to partisan political demands. Nearly everyone recognizes that a Delta "fix" is within reach-economically, environmentally, and politically-if only Sacramento could carry out its responsibility to address the state's most pressing public policy issue. And make no mistake: securing an imported water supply while addressing the ecology of the Delta is the most critical public policy issue facing California-without which budget reform, health care reform, educational reform, and other issues demanding attention will be pointless. Without a reliable supply of imported water, Southern California will whither.