CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS GOVERNOR : Van de Kamp Calls for Water Cutbacks for Cities and Farms

Democratic gubernatorial candidate John K. Van de Kamp called Monday for permanent water conservation measures, including 10% cutbacks for city dwellers throughout the state and a 5% reduction for farmers.

Setting forth his seven-point water policy, Atty. Gen. Van de Kamp also declared that he would never support a peripheral canal in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as a way to increase the shipment of water to Southern California.

“The simple fact is this: There is more than enough water in this state to satisfy our needs well into the next century,” Van de Kamp said. “All we have to do is to make a modest effort to improve our use of existing resources.”

In his quest to defeat former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein for the Democratic nomination for governor, Van de Kamp took the unusual step of laying out a detailed policy on an issue that has often divided voters in Northern and Southern California.

In a heated election in 1982, for example, voters rejected a proposal to build a channel--known as the Peripheral Canal--that would have skirted around the edge of the delta to increase delivery of water from the north to the arid Southland.

Feinstein has called for the development of a comprehensive state water plan that would emphasize agricultural conservation. She has not ruled out support for a peripheral canal if it could also improve water quality in the delta, said Feinstein campaign spokeswoman Dee Dee Meyers.

“There’s very little in Van de Kamp’s water conservation policy that Dianne hasn’t already called for,” Meyers added.

The centerpiece of Van de Kamp’s plan is a program of mandatory conservation that he said would save 2-million acre-feet of water a year--three times more than a peripheral canal would provide. An acre-foot is enough water to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.

In a speech to the Sacramento Comstock Club, the attorney general proposed that the state set water conservation standards to be carried out by local governments in building codes, ordinances and water bills.

“These standards will not be voluntary,” he said. “And they will not be short-term measures for coping with drought. They will be permanent. And they will be mandatory.”

On the question of major new water projects, Van de Kamp said: “The peripheral canal is dead. It will never be built in a Van de Kamp Administration.”

In other aspects of his water plan, Van de Kamp called for:

A ban on export of additional water from the delta until water quality in the region is improved.

Continued development of a series of reservoirs and underground aquifers to store water during rainy years.

State financing to help farmers install drip irrigation systems and to help cities build water storage facilities. He said he would float bonds to pay for the program.

Development of a private water market and the transfer of water among water and irrigation districts.

State aid to farmers for the construction of drainage systems to dispose of toxic farm runoff water. Van de Kamp did not offer a funding source for this program.