California community that has to pay quite a bit of money to get water either from the Colorado River or from the Delta or some other source. So that hasn’t forced the pricing discussion here in Sacramento, but it will once the meters are installed – everybody knows that will be the next step. And how aggressive the utility will be remains to be seen. Sacramento is, of course, looking at pretty high sewage treatment bills. And we pay a pretty high price for living in a fl oodplain, which is obviously not the wisest idea, but there’s a cost to that. So I think that local offi cials are really quite concerned about this cumulative cost. At this point, though, our big chal- lenge is just to get the water meters installed in a lot of the older parts of town where they haven’t been put in.
Pitzer: The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the orb around which everything circulates. What are your thoughts on whether the current plans are leading to- ward solving the problem? What are your thoughts on the practicality, the worthiness and what the prospects are for a solution?
Davis: Oh, it’s incredibly important. What we’re looking at in the Delta is how we can have a sustainable management plan for the Delta that allows the continuation of appropriate imported water throughout the state. At the same time we are going to be marrying that with improvements in water management throughout the state. The solution for California comes from both parts, local and the imported water supplies being man- aged in a way that we have reliability, we have some form of predictability related to the infrastructure, and we know we have sustainability in terms of environmental restoration and protection in the Delta. And you can’t get there without having some sort of a fi x in the Delta.
For Southern California it’s a combination of both water supplies and water quality concerns because the imported water that comes in from Sacramento is an important part of
January/February 2013
how we blend water that goes into our groundwater basins. So it’s very important to Southern California. It’s important throughout the state. But as we reach for solutions and it’s going to come incrementally, we have to do it in a way that we’re looking at the holistic picture of how the Delta fi ts into other aspects of water manage- ment in California.
Pitzer: Your thoughts on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan? There have been questions about the strength of the science.
Saracino: There will always be ques- tions about the science. And for some interests there will never be enough science to provide the answer that is going to solve the problem with the Delta. But I fully agree with Martha that the Delta solution is central to solving California’s water problems because it serves as the conveyance feature that enables us to move water from the north to the south, as well as obviously being a major habitat and ecosystem that’s key to the vitality of the state. So I think time for further analyses to delay decision-making is pretty much ended. I think we’re at the point after decades of studying the Delta that we are in a position to make some key decisions.
I think new conveyance is para- mount to solving both water supply reliability issues and ecosystem issues. And it’s really going to be about the governance of the new facility and the economics that really drive the solution. But I think the interests involved are close to coming up with a document that provides a pathway that is both technically and scientifi - cally credible. But there are still issues related to governance and fi nancing that need to be addressed before it’s a complete package.
Hanak: I’m encouraged by all the work that seems to be coming together on the Delta. There are really two major planning efforts underway. And Martha has been involved closely in one of them, the Delta Plan, which
“The solution for California comes from local and imported water supplies being managed in a way that we have reliability, some form of predictability related to the infrastructure, and we know we have sustainability in terms of environmental restoration.”