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The wildfires that have burned more than 1 million acres are the most visible symptom of another long, hot, dry summer in California. Less visible, though no less devastating, are the effects that the prolonged drought has on the state's water supply and environment. Although no one disagrees on the urgent need to fight the fires, there has long been sharp disagreement about how to address California's chronic water shortage. The time has come to break the stalemate. So, in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation, earlier this month we offered a compromise water bond package for the Legislature's consideration. We...

SACRAMENTO – With scattered rationing punishing cities and farms statewide, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein Thursday jointly unveiled a $9.3 billion water bond proposal, convinced that fears over prolonged shortages and environmental collapse in the vital Sacramento delta will be enough to overcome resistance to building dams and a north-to-south delivery canal. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Feinstein, a Democrat, plan to aggressively push lawmakers to approve taking the bond measure to voters in November. The plan still faces tough odds. The ballot is already crowded with controversial initiatives addressing same-sex marriage, abortions for minors and caged farm...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will formally declare today that the state has plunged into a drought, putting Californians on notice that rationing could be next if conservation efforts are not stepped up. “The governor is ringing the bell. We're heading over a cliff,” Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources, said in an exclusive interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune. Schwarzenegger will issue an accompanying executive order to launch an aggressive campaign to transfer water to parched regions, pursue federal aid, quickly funnel more state money to conservation projects and to lay the foundation for a...

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Department of Water and Power are expected to announce on May 15 a revised water use and management plan for this city that includes using recycled wastewater to recharge drinking water aquifers, according to a May 15 Los Angeles Times article. The new plan allocates about $1 billion for the proposed reclamation system, also known as “toilet-to-tap” or “sewer-to-spigot.” The city would recycle about 4.9 billion gallons of treated wastewater to drinking standards by 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported on May 15. Villaraigosa, who less than a decade ago opposed such...

Environmentalists sued Tuesday to cut off water deliveries across California after state and federal water managers refused to follow a recommendation from scientific experts to slow down massive Delta pumps. The legal showdown comes after hopes were dashed that a crisis pitting Californians' need for water against a dying ecosystem would abate during the weekend. Instead, hundreds of imperiled fish have been killed since an unprecedented 10-day pumping shutdown ended June 9 and water officials began gradually restoring water deliveries. Water officials, who have been increasing pumping rates for more than a week, plan to continue ramping up water deliveries...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to draw on his popular campaign against global warming to promote something not so popular among environmentalists – building new dams in California. His strategy will attempt to capitalize on fears that climatic disruptions linked to global warming could take a toll on fish and wildlife, as well as increase flood risks and reduce overall water supplies for a growing state. To guard against those threats, Schwarzenegger will aggressively pursue at least one, and possibly two new reservoirs as part of his 2007 agenda. The combined price tag could be as much as $3.7...

Ready or not, the $37.2 billion infrastructure bond package on the November ballot just got a little bigger. About $5 billion bigger, to be exact. A coalition of California environmental groups has qualified an initiative that calls for $5.4 billion in bonds to pay for water quality improvements, protection of rivers, lakes and streams, shoreline protection and parkland purchases. Backers of the measure made it clear that they'll be hugging the governor's bipartisan bond package tight in an effort to get the conservation bonds passed. "This is the fifth prong of the infrastructure bonds," said Fiona Hutton, a spokeswoman for...

A bill requiring Central Valley property owners who live in flood-prone areas to have flood insurance has died without getting a vote in a state Assembly committee. The measure by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, failed Monday when none of the 10 members of the Banking and Finance Committee asked for a vote. The bill would have required valley property owners to buy coverage through the National Flood Insurance Program unless the state or a local agency certified that levees provided at least 200-year flood protection. An area with such protection has a one in 200 chance of catastrophic flooding in...

WASHINGTON - Key Republican lawmakers said Thursday that building a dam on the American River at Auburn is the only way to protect Sacramento against catastrophic flooding that might occur once every 500 years. But the head of the California Department of Water Resources cautioned against losing focus on flood-control projects now underway that are meant to give 200-year protection to the region. Sacramento is now protected only at the 100-year level--the lowest of any large urban area in the nation. "Our focus right now in the state is that we need to be sure we get these improvements and...

Everyone knows that it's risky to build large tracts of homes beside flood-prone rivers but developers and local governments, especially in the fast-growing Sacramento area, are continuing to do it with little regard for the potential consequences--because financially and legally, they are protected from the consequences. As long as the subdivisions comply with very outdated federal floodplain maps, or the promoters have obtained some sort of exemption from the Army Corps of Engineers, there are no restrictions or flood insurance requirements. And under a recent state appellate court decision, if a levee fails and nearby homes are flooded, the State...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders struggled Tuesday to agree on a record-setting public works bond package that could reach the June ballot, with what one lawmaker called "the diabolical politics of water" standing in the way. But negotiators were working on borrowed time. Last Friday was the secretary of state's official deadline for the Legislature to add proposals to the June 6 ballot, but lawmakers and administration officials said they could still make the ballot if they acted by Tuesday. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, sent a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Bruce McPherson asking him to...

The state of California could move to seize private land to repair eroding levees under the authority of a recent emergency declaration. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared the levee emergency on Feb. 24, vowing to spend $100 million to repair 24 serious erosion sites on Sacramento Valley levees by Nov. 1, the start of the next flood season. But the state may go beyond merely rebuilding some eroded areas, said Rod Mayer, acting chief at the State Department of Water Resources. In some cases, the state may opt to widen the riverbed by building setback levees, in which the existing levee...

SACRAMENTO - From the North Coast to Southern California, local governments, environmentalists, business groups - even Indian tribes - are turning up the lobbying heat on state lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as they try to grab a share of what could be the largest bond measure in the state's history. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders are negotiating a package of public works bonds that could help pay for projects ranging from highway expansions to rebuilt levees to new schools. Schwarzenegger proposed a record $222.6 billion infrastructure spending plan in January that would be partly funded by selling state bonds and...

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will visit California to tour Sacramento's levees and assess the need for federal help, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday after meeting with the secretary. Schwarzenegger said Chertoff made the commitment during a meeting in which the governor pressed him to support a federal disaster declaration for the fragile levee system. Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state of emergency for the river and delta levees to try to get quick funding to repair them. "He said that he will help, that he will look into it," Schwarzenegger said in an interview with The Associated Press. "He...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Sacramento could suffer catastrophic flooding unless the river levees in the region are repaired quickly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other officials warned Wednesday after a helicopter tour. "We are literally today one storm or one big earthquake away from a major disaster," Schwarzenegger said at a news conference atop a levee separating the Sacramento River from a neighborhood just yards away. "Now we have seen what happened with Katrina - I think that woke everyone up." Sacramento has less than 100-year flood protection, the lowest of any large urban area in the nation, according...

SACRAMENTO - It lives. That $3-per-month water fee dropped from legislative debate Thursday was resurrected Friday - in no small part because Senate Leader Don Perata wants to publicly air the idea, which forms a key component of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $35 billion waterworks plan. The fee, as envisioned, would be charged to every household to help pay for improvements to the state's water system, including better-maintained Delta levees. Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee Chairwoman Sheila Kuehl said she initially dropped the fee from discussion to save some time - no one except the administration supported the fee, which...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - In 25 years, California is expected to use about the same amount of water it uses today, even though the state is projected to add another 12 million people, according to a new state. The California Water Plan released Tuesday found that farmers, who currently use about 80 percent of the state's "developed water," will use less as new development reduces the amount of irrigated farmland by about 10 percent. Irrigation systems are also expected to become more efficient. "Urban users are going to need more water, and agriculture is going to need less," said...