Board to Revise Water Plan in Bid to Satisfy All

Bowing to pressure from urban Southern California and agricultural interests, the state Water Resources Control Board agreed Thursday to revise a controversial draft plan that was designed to improve water quality in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay.

The revisions will delay the court-ordered plan by at least six months as the water board’s staff attempts to rewrite the proposal in a manner that will satisfy water users in the southern part of the state as well as Northern California environmentalists.

“There has been some justifiable criticism of the draft report,” W. Don Maughan, board chairman, said after the board’s decision. “There is justifiable criticism that we haven’t gotten all the input that we should.”

The purpose of the plan was to develop water quality standards for San Francisco Bay, which over the years has suffered increased pollution and a reduced flow of water due to the diversion of water from the delta to other parts of the state.

But the initial draft proposal released last November generated considerable opposition because it called for limiting the amount of water shipped to Southern California to 1985 levels and imposing a strict program of water conservation as the population of the area continues to grow.

Among other changes, Maughan said, the next draft of the plan will not include recommendations for a limit on water exports to Southern California. Instead, the agency will turn to that thorny question in later discussions when it considers how to implement the proposal.

Maughan said he had always envisioned revising the plan after a lengthy series of public hearings. The original draft, he said, was simply a starting point for discussion.

However, the proposal so angered farming interests and Southern California water importers that some critics of the plan began lobbying Gov. George Deukmejian not to reappoint Maughan when his 4-year term as board chairman officially expired last Sunday.

Under the law, Deukmejian has until March 14 to reappoint Maughan or name someone else to the post. Earlier this week, the governor said he had been too busy with other issues to focus yet on the appointment. “It’s just something that hasn’t really come up to me yet,” he told reporters.

Maughan said the efforts to remove him had not affected the board’s decision and that he had received no instructions from the governor’s office on how to handle the controversy.

Furthermore, Maughan said, as the agency revises the plan it will continue to take into account environmental interests as well as the needs of agriculture and urban development.

“Sure, there’s a lot of pressure been brought to bear,” Maughan said. “But I also think we’re going to look at all these environmental issues equally as we are (those raised by) the water industry.”

Efforts to set water quality standards for San Francisco Bay are certain to continue to be controversial. Environmentalists and fishing interests are seeking increased flows from the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to provide an adequate habitat for fish and to flush pollution out of the delta and the bay.

At the same time, water suppliers to Southern California want to guarantee sufficient water for the region’s burgeoning population and Central Valley farmers are determined to protect their water supply.