The California Assembly has passed a plan aimed at increasing water supply reliability while improving the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the source of drinking water for two-thirds of the state.
The plan includes both a policy package intended to improve water conservation, groundwater monitoring, water rights and governance, as well as a water infrastructure bond to be placed on next year's ballot.
The Senate passed the package Tuesday but the Assembly added additional money. The Senate was expected to approve the new package Wednesday.
"The package includes conservation and storage, groundwater protection, water rights protection, and Delta protection and represents the most significant water infrastructure and policy advances since the State Water Project in the 1960s," Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said in a prepared statement. "This is a responsible plan -- no one is getting 100 percent of what they want. Everyone who gets something has to give something, too. It is the only way to balance the many different individual interests for the overall greater good of having a safe and stable water supply for the entire State of California."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also applauded the move.
"Without clean, reliable water, we cannot build, we cannot farm, we cannot grow and we cannot prosper," Schwarzenegger said in a news release. "That is why I am so proud that the legislature, Democrats and Republicans, came together and tackled one of the most complicated issues in our state's history. This comprehensive water package is an historic achievement."
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