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As part of its annual legislative interview process, the League of Women Voters of Piedmont together with other local Leagues, participated in interviews of California State Senator Nancy Skinner and State Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. Legislative interviews are an opportunity for legislators to share their priorities with local Leagues and develop an understanding of League positions and priorities.

This article highlights Sustainable and Equitable Water Resource Management and the legislators' responses to the following question.

Senator Skinner:
Senator Skinner said that water resource management in California is a complicated question, one that she hasn’t tried to take on. Consequently, she said she cannot give an appropriate answer to this question, but she thinks that it would be worth LWVC looking at the drought.

There are several factors that contribute to the issue’s complexity: agriculture uses 80% of the water in California; water rights have been determined by historical precedent; and the Federal government, not the State, controls much of the supply.  

When Jerry Brown was governor, he mandated statewide reduction in water usage of 20%.  At that time, the end result was close to 25% water savings. In addition, there was an almost equivalent reduction in electricity usage; with lower water usage, there was less need to pump, treat, and transport. UC Davis has done research on the benefits of the mandate, but the success of the program has not been well-publicized.

Some local water districts objected to the mandate because their funding was based on charging for water used.  Less usage meant less revenue.  Unfortunately, the mandate was subsequently lifted, which Senator Skinner believes created a lost opportunity. She said that if we look at grid reliability and still had the mandate, we could potentially eliminate less reliable sources of electricity. She noted that the legislature just voted to extend Diablo Canyon.

Asm. Wicks:
This is a complicated topic.  This year, for the first time, I am doing two different bills on this issue.  Water rights in California are ripe for reforms – they are incredibly complicated.  People mention 1913, the 1850’s even – long, complicated historic problems with diversion upstream and evaporation. Some legacy water rights holders have tremendous power here.
 
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan is chairing the committee looking into this.  We are trying to work on policies for more equity.  There is a separate bill for low-income communities for equitable access. 
 
With the drought, water has become a scarce resource, a crisis. The public of California is not in control of water rights and access.  Eighty percent of our water is controlled by agriculture; a water board needs to have more power.  “Wild, the water issues we have here.”

This article will be followed in the coming weeks with the responses to a final question and the legislators' personal and legislative priorities.