A New Water Czar?

As Bruce Scheidt accurately puts it in the current issue of Golden State Report: “One reason the state Water Project has never been completed is that no political leader in California has been capable of bridging regional differences and easing historical distrust between the north and the south.”

The answer may be to find a political leader from outside California. And one such person may soon be available for the task. That is unfortunate in one sense, because we have in mind former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, the only Westerner and one of the more interesting of the Democratic candidates for President. But his campaign may not last beyond Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, and, in the silver-lining theory of life, the campaign’s loss might just be California’s gain.

If there is not a Democratic Administration in 1989 in which Babbitt might be a fine secretary of the Interior, California should consider hiring Babbitt to work out the state’s water problems on a long-range basis. The Legislature and the governor should get together--that is possible, sometimes--and create some sort of position that is akin to California water czar, and entice Babbitt to take it for a specific term--or for however long the job takes.

Much of Babbitt’s reputation for his success as the governor of Arizona stems from his ability through epic negotiating sessions to get warring Arizona water interests to reconcile their differences for the good of the state. Babbitt, with advanced degrees in law and geophysics, succeeded in part because he got to know Arizona water law and water conditions as well as anyone. Without too much prepping, he could do the same in California.

As the California water czar, Babbitt would be concerned not only with completing the state project but also with considering all aspects of California water needs and development, including the environment, for well into the 21st Century. He would bring a fresh but informed view to the situation. He might have the ability to persuade competing interests that all would benefit from actions taken for the long-run good of the state.

He could bring a fresh and impartial eye to such ideas as merging the federal Central Valley Project and the state Water Project into one integrated operation and an overhaul of state water law.

No such authority would be able to dictate changes in existing law. But someone like Babbitt might be able to work out a comprehensive 21st Century water plan for California and get all major factions to support it on presentation to the Legislature and governor for ratification intact.

A crazy idea? Maybe. Could it work? Just possibly. Should it be tried? Why not?