Water legislation and bond issue welcome (Nov. 6)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
The water measure and its accompanying bond request passed Wednesday by the Legislature is a welcome outcome of what had seemed to be another Sacramento impasse.
Fortunately, wise heads prevailed and state lawmakers proved they could (1) recognize a problem for what it is and (2) make rational decisions about how to solve it.
Backers of the bill will have to work hard to sell the $11.4 billion bond issue to the voters.
However, three-fourths of the state’s citizens stand to gain directly from the improvements the bond would pay for, and those improvements won’t get any cheaper in the future.
Without those infrastructure changes, the state’s economy will surely suffer over the long term.
Southern California’s access to water would be limited, and growth there would be stalled.
The agricultural economy would be much at risk.
Efforts to use water for environmental restoration would be restricted and subject to new court challenges, particularly if future drought conditions are like those of today or worse.
One of the things the legislative package doesn’t address enough is something the state needs — a change in thinking about how it manages its water.
As individuals, we all will have to alter the way we approach how we use water. We do use the water we have more responsibly than we did, say, 25 years ago, but compared to changes we could make, we have much to learn.
Fortunately, Madera County is on the cutting edge of some of that thinking.
The Madera Irrigation District’s decision to develop a 250,000-acre-foot water bank is beginning to look more like a stroke of genius every day. That storage capacity — almost half that of Millerton Lake — can help buffer the county’s farmers and others against the effects of future droughts.
And efforts are under way locally to discover more about water management in arid conditions.
Optimism reigns.
