Conference probes environmental impact of federal water policy
BERKELEY – A decade ago, federal water projects in California were operated to provide cities and farms with water and power, with little consideration given to their environmental impacts. Today, environmental interests have a seat at the table as a result of landmark reform legislation passed in 1992 called the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.
 Former Sen. Bill Bradley addresses a conference on the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. (Jim Block photos) |
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"It is hard to think of any other system of government that is more conservative, more resistant to change, than water policy, even when there is an obvious need for change," said former Sen. Bill Bradley at a conference Friday (Sept. 12) examining the success of the law and its implications for future water policy in the state.
Bradley, along with Bay Area Rep. George Miller, co-sponsored the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) when he was chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in an effort to change the way the Interior Department managed water in California. Bradley was the keynote speaker at the daylong conference in San Francisco hosted by UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources and Boalt School of Law.
The conference brought together experts in water policy, many of whom participated in the creation of the act, along with students, lawyers, scientists and representatives from agriculture, fisheries, cities and environmental groups.
CNR Dean Paul Ludden presented Bradley with a Chancellor's Distinguished Honor Award for his commitment to California, and a graduate prize for water policy research has been established in his honor. The prize will be awarded to a CNR graduate student focusing on water economics and policy analysis. Congressman Miller also was recognized for his efforts on water policy.
Beyond listing environmental restoration as an objective of water project operation, the CVPIA specifically reallocated roughly ten percent of water supplies to the environment, mandated a doubling of wild salmon populations in the state, and changed the way long-term federal water contracts are designed and implemented in California.
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 CNR Dean Paul Ludden presents the Chancellor's Distinguished Honor Award to Bradley. |
"An unusual thing about the act is that it is so specific," said David Sunding, associate professor and cooperative extension specialist of natural resource economics at the College of Natural Resources. "The CVPIA gave very detailed instructions to the Department of the Interior about how federal water projects were to be operated in California, including how much water was to be set aside for the environment. Congress usually leaves such technical decisions up to agencies, but in this case the legislature simply did not trust the Department of the Interior to faithfully implement its wishes," he said.
While the various parties agree that the act was a milestone in water law and policy, there is wide disagreement as to whether the law has been beneficial or effective. In most cases, target salmon population numbers have not been reached. Agricultural and environmental interests have waged multiple legal battles over interpretation and implementation of the act.
The Cal-Fed Bay Delta Program, a subsequent effort with an even wider scope to balance water supplies among various users statewide, continues to struggle as well. On Sept. 9, a court decision in Fresno revived a major lawsuit by agricultural businesses against the Cal-Fed program.
Conference participants agreed that the outcome of these decisions will be crucial to California's future. Water is likely to present the next big crisis in California and the West, said Cynthia Koehler, a visiting scholar at CNR's Center for Sustainable Resource Development. Groups on all sides of the debate will remain alert to see whether the flexibility introduced by the act will allow lawmakers to meet future challenges.