Editorial: Lois Wolk’s water war

State Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, has been waging what at times seems like a one-woman campaign to point California in the direction of an ecologically sensible, economically affordable and politically possible water bond for inclusion on the November ballot.

There is currently a $11.1 billion bond bill – Proposition 43 – placed by the state Legislature and slated for the November ballot, that no one seems to want. That bill has been bounced twice from election to election, and is likely to get bounced again, but in the face of the worst drought in recorded state history, no one in elective office wants to risk the political fallout from doing nothing.

So Wolk, whose 3rd Senate District stretches from Sonoma across a good chunk of the Delta, has been whittling away at a version of a water bond bill that can attract enough supporters to win the two-thirds majority needed for passage. Her first effort (SB 848), a $10.5 billion proposal that remained neutral on the subject of Gov. Jerry Brown’s preferred twin-tunnel solution to the state’s endless water crises, lost by five votes in the Senate in June, and Brown had already indicated it was too big to win his support.

Now, Wolk has pared it down to a $7.5 billion plan, with $3 billion for new storage facilities. The storage facilities may, themselves, be a red flag for both supporters and opponents (some people won’t support a bill without them, others won’t support a bill with them) but other components are less likely to become wedge issues, including a variety of water quality and reliable supply projects. Eliminated in both versions of Wolk’s legislation are funds to mitigate environmental damage in the Delta caused by construction of the proposed twin tunnels. Those tunnels, central to Gov. Brown’s vision of an engineered solution to the state’s water supply issues would, in the eyes of opponents, trigger a new North-versus-South water war that would divide the state all over again and would never receive voter approval.

Among the issues on the minds of tunnel opponents are the fact that scientists have yet to determine how much water can continue to be withdrawn from the Delta without killing it.

According to Friends of the River, the state’s largest river conservation organization, “The big problem with the ... proposed twin tunnels is the difference between the government’s stated intent on how the project will be operated and its actual physical capacity to do harm.

“Astoundingly, government scientists still don’t know how much fresh water the Delta needs to survive and thrive as a functioning ecosystem. Governor Brown’s solution is to build the tunnels and diversions, and figure out later how much water the Delta needs. The long history of broken promises, failed reforms, and violated laws in regard to water operations in California simply underscores the uncertainty of the BDCP (Bay Delta Conservation Plan). When it comes to this project, it’s caveat emptor (let the buyer beware).”

Wolk remains steadfastly rooted in this camp, but shaping another, smaller water bond bill in time for a public vote in November, and clear of any commitment to the twin tunnels, will remain a challenge. The longer the drought lasts, the more urgent that effort becomes. We wish Wolk well.

– David Bolling