This Week Inside The Capitol (1/4/2010)  >  Dateline Sacramento (9/10/2009)  >  Wednesday, March 10 2010  >  Guidelines for Pastors & Churches  >  Water Takes Center Stage

Water Takes Center Stage


Water Takes Center Stage
The Legislature returned from their summer recess prepared to spend the remaining four weeks of Session addressing more than 700 pieces of legislation, resolving the $1.2 billion budget cuts to the Department of Corrections (as discussed above), and addressing California’s water crisis. During these last few weeks, California’s water crisis will take center stage. Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) stated this week that striking a deal on water is one of the top priorities for the next three and a half weeks. 
Informational hearings on California’s dire water situation have already begun and committee hearings are scheduled to meet regularly until the end of next week. At that point, a joint conference committee of the Senate and Assembly will convene in an effort to come to a compromise that resolves our dire water situation.
Three years of drought has ravaged California’s surface and groundwater storage supply. The prolonged drought, coupled with continued federal restrictions on water movement have left California farmers and ranchers throughout the Central Valley with severe water shortages and fallowed farm lands.
Water scarcity, court rulings protecting threatened and endangered species, and efforts to restore habitats by restricting water pumping in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has magnified the state’s water crisis. Currently, approximately 3 million acres of useable farmland is going uncultivated due to water project restrictions. Without a reliable water supply, farmers have had to reduce their crop production, which directly affects their ability to create jobs and generate revenue.
While the Central Valley is one of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions, the lack of a stable water supply and reduced crop production has resulted in skyrocketing unemployment. Over the past year, the jobless rate in some of these communities has exceeded 30 percent. 
Over the next several weeks, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Legislature, and the Obama Administration will attempt to devise a plan that will address the immediate and long term water needs while also restoring the Delta’s ecosystem.  Failure to create a reliable water storage plan will worsen the state’s economy, and threaten California’s remaining water supply.
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