California water projects may flow under new leadership in Legislature

"I know that it's a contentious issue -- I mean, 'Chinatown,' themovie.

"That was the extent of my knowledge. And then I come up here andfind out I live in a flood plain [near the Sacramento airport]. Iwas stunned."

Bass is laughing over lunch. She's acknowledging her waterignorance, but -- most important -- expressing an eagerness tolearn.

Recently, before replacing termed-out Fabian Nuñez (D-LosAngeles) as Assembly speaker, Bass took trips to Bakersfield andFresno to hear firsthand about California's dire water problems."I'd never been on a farm before," she says, until AssemblywomanNicole Parra (D-Hanford) marched her into a field to learn aboutirrigation.

Bass is one hopeful sign for impatient water warriors because of aleadership transition at the Capitol.

Another is Sen. Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, who has beenselected by fellow Democrats to be the next Senate leader,replacing termed-out Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland).

Steinberg is a policy wonk who, as a Sacramentan, is very familiarwith the leaky, creaky Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and itsvulnerability to flood or, worse, earthquake.

The delta estuary is California's main water hub, the source ofdrinking water for 24 million people and irrigation for 3 millionacres. It also has become a deathtrap for fish, ranging from theendangered tiny smelt to disappearing popular salmon. So federalcourts have cut back on water exports to save the critters.

Steinberg, chairman of the Senate water committee, is eager torepair and update the state's aged water facilities. So is Bass,unlike her predecessor Nuñez, whose main interest in water wasto use it as a bargaining chip to achieve universal healthcare.

Water talks between Perata and the Schwarzenegger administrationwere scuttled when the Senate killed Nuñez's health insurancebill in January. A bitter Nuñez would have killed any waterbond proposal the Senate had sent the Assembly. But Perata deniedhim the sweet revenge by pulling the plug on water.

Bass has told Perata that she has no such hang-ups about water andhealthcare.

Neither does she or Steinberg harbor the instinctive opposition todams that many environmentalist-influenced Democrats have exhibitedin recent years.

"What's absolutely true is I'm open," Bass told the SacramentoPress Club last week. "I don't come into this issue with rigidpositions around dams."

But she is concerned about cost, benefits and who pays, Bass added.

That has been a major quarrel among water negotiators. Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger and Republicans have argued that the cost should be50-50: half public, half water contractor.

They contend that the public would use any new dam for floodcontrol and recreation and the water for delta ecologicalrestoration. Democrats counter that water contractors -- forfarmers and city dwellers -- traditionally have financed the lion'sshare of dams.

There has been some recent progress on resolving this dispute.

Sen. Michael Machado, a Democratic farmer from San Joaquin County,has been the Senate point man on water. He now has concluded thatthe public should pay 100% of the building cost for along-proposed, off-stream dam called Sites, near the SacramentoRiver in Colusa County. It's needed for delta restoration and floodcontrol, he says. Any surplus could be sold to water contractors.