Horseshoes, Hand Grenades and California Water Policy

Harry Truman once said that "close only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades."  In the coming year, we'll see if close also counts in California water policy. 

Last Friday, in the closing hours of the legislative session for the year, the California legislature was unable to pass an extraordinarily ambitious package of water reform legislation.

The closing day of the legislative session was made more dramatic by the release of a revised package of legislation that was shaped, in part, by discussions among several stakeholders, including NRDC and other environmental groups, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Westlands Water District and the LA Chamber of Commerce. 

All of these groups, with the exception of Westlands, also supported three additional bills, which together formed the most ambitious package of state water reform legislation in the past quarter century.  The package was a bold attempt to implement the recommendations of the Delta Vision Task Force, which were designed to chart a new course in the Delta and for California water policy. 

The final bill consolidated five separate pieces of legislation, including AB 49, a water conservation bill that is co-sponsored by NRDC.  The package contains a number of measures crucial to using our precious water resources more fairly and efficiently, restoring our iconic salmon fisheries, and providing a more reliable water supply for farms, cities, and ecosystems. In particular, the bills will:

• Implement the Governor's call to reduce water consumption by 20 percent by 2020
• Reduce reliance on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by increasing water recycling, cost-effective efficiency, and regional self-sufficiency
• Establish performance standards and new public trust flows critical to achieving a healthy and resilient ecosystem
• Ensure that the restoration planning process for the Delta meets the highest standards for species recovery
• Ensure that construction of any new conveyance facility cannot begin until the State Board has issued a permit that includes binding protections for California's beleaguered fisheries
• Substantially increase the State Board's power to enforce water rights and limit illegal diversions
• Expand groundwater management and monitoring efforts
• Restore the Delta ecosystem while addressing water supply and water quality problems
• Require Delta agencies to respond to climate change and the threats it presents to the Delta communities
• Provide for numerous measures to substantially improve the reliability of water supplies statewide

Unfortunately, the final package failed to pass the legislature on the last day of session on Friday.  That failure was largely due to a lack of time (the final package was released on Friday morning) and disagreements over a $12 billion water bond and proposed subsidies for agricultural water supply dams.  Nevertheless, the developments of the past few days mark an historic moment in California water policy.   Although the failure of that package is disappointing, we believe that it has set the stage for what we hope can be a breakthrough next year.