Source: DWR (http://www.water.ca.gov/newsroom/photo/ag/groundwater_banking1.jpg)

Last week California passed a landmark water package. In a state facing its third year of drought it is an important step, but before the state’s political leaders congratulate themselves on a job well done, we should remind ourselves that it just that, a step. The state’s aging water infrastructure and conveyance system are still decades overdue for repair, some levees dangerously so, and the ecological condition of the state’s important waterways are still severely compromised – passing the bills through begins the work ahead, it does not complete it. California is still a major earthquake away from a water crisis becoming something much more. Supply is still projected to decline. Passing the water package is an important step toward accelerating the work that needs to be done, and whether that will actually come to pass remains to be seen.

Efforts to restructure the state’s water laws and policies have been highly contentious. What has emerged is a series of compromises from both sides, but with some important priority areas relatively intact. The water package will establish caps on overall water usage, dramatically increase Delta restoration efforts, as well as create a Delta Plan and Stewardship Council to oversee governance of the waterway. It will also move the state toward stricter groundwater monitoring and enforcement of illegal diversions. A bond measure costing roughly $11 billion to finance many of these programs will go before voters next November.

The bill’s effectiveness remains to be seen, and as some experts have pointed out, it still leaves some important questions unanswered. As Peter Gleick points out in a recent piece, the bill didn’t quite go far enough – it is lacking effective accounting for all water use across the state, a means to ensure that governing bodies have the resources and authority to make good on the governance needs for water use in the Delta, as well as any sort of framework to move the state toward requiring a user fee for our water consumption. Not to mention the issue of a new peripheral canal to improve water conveyance to water users in southern parts of the state.

Given the divisiveness and heated debate that our efforts at water reform have stirred up, how do we stay focused on the issue? This is important because how the state plans to follow through on the bill is where things really get interesting, and will be a determining factor in California’s water future.