PD Editorial: Waterworks

Sonoma County receives no water from the giant plumbing systems that supply the Central Valley’s agribusiness giants, Southern California’s subdivisions and many of our Bay Area neighbors. Neither do other North Coast counties.

But that doesn’t mean the region ought to stay ashore during the political battle over water that’s playing out in Sacramento.

The direct interest is simple: You’ll almost certainly have to help pay for it.

While details of the water plan are unsettled, Democrats and Republicans alike are talking about spending

$9 billion, to be raised with general obligation bonds. That means the debt — which could add about $500 million a year to the state budget — will be repaid by general tax revenue, not just by the direct beneficiaries of any new reservoirs, dams or canals.

That’s not very appealing at a time when the state already is cutting millions of dollars from local schools, closing parks for days at a time and siphoning money from local transportation and redevelopment funds.

There are, however, indirect local interests that, if properly addressed, could justify sharing the cost of a well-balanced water plan.

Foremost is restoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, its watershed ecompasses 45 percent of California’s surface area and supports farming and freshwater supplies while serving as a migrating route or spawning ground for salmon and other fish.

One concern is the Delta’s deteriorating levees, which have prompted warnings of a Katrina-style disaster as more homes are built on the man-made islands. Another is the continuing disappearance of marshland on the Pacific Flyway. Biggest of all is Delta water quality, with many stakeholders seeking to boost freshwater supplies for agriculture and municipal use in conflict with others seeking first to restore the historical mix of fresh and brackish water that supported salmon and smelt species that were once abundant and are now threatened.

Restoring Delta fisheries would pay dividends for sport and commercial fishermen on the North Coast, who have mostly been stuck in port in recent years.

Among those at the bargaining table is Assemblyman Jared Huffman, a San Rafael Democrat with great expertise on water issues. He has wisely suggested putting off big expenditures on new dams and other plumbing to focus first on less costly steps to restore Delta ecosystems, which in turn would protect a key source of the state’s water.

Any plan should include mandatory conservation for farmers and households, ground water monitoring and stepped-up enforcement of water rights —all of which are meeting stiff resistance.

But they all are reasonable safeguards before billions are spent on new storage and delivery systems to benefit the state’s largest water users. Achieving them will require that North Coast residents, and our representatives in Sacramento, get involved.