As discussions of recent winter downpours mature into discussions of California's multi-year drought, the future of the Golden State's water management and infrastructure becomes a key part of the economic and environmental debate. The Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act is an $11 billion bond proposal coming California voters in November of 2010 that would fund improvements and enhancements to water infrastructure. In a cash strapped state government and with tax coffers depleted, how will one of our most basic needs be addressed and financed?
With the public debate often focused on overly simplistic battles like North vs. South, Urban vs. Rural, and Conservation vs. Utility of water, a new vision for California's shared water future seems to be the choice being given to voters.
In San Francisco, there is a special relationship to the Statewide debate since the City's water supply is managed from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in the Sierra Nevada mountains, as is the transmission and storage. Even with this unique position in water supply, the San Francisco Bay is at the crux of two water challenges in sea level rise, in addition to changes that effect the Sacramento delta.
But who will the winners and losers be of this new system? How do divergent water users such as farms, fisheries, cities, and conservationists agree on the right path? How much should we as tax payers and as water consumers be paying for water? With the threat of earthquakes and deficient flood control systems, wouldn't creating and funding a plan now, before a disaster, be the wisest choice? With a number of conflicting interests in water usage and water ownership, the policy-making foundation for how California shares and stores water resources is being rethought with an eye toward building a new consensus for our water policy.
- Ellen Hanak, Senior Fellow, Public Policy Institute of California
- Doug Obegi, Staff Attorney, Natural Resource Defense Council
- Michael Carlan, Deputy General Manager, San Francisco Water Commission
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