Wilson Tries to Navigate a Compromise on Water Policy : Resources: Governor stresses conservation and says he will create a panel to explore delta’s problems. Long-awaited plan is too broad, critics say.

Gov. Pete Wilson, charting a middle course between the competing needs of farmers, city dwellers and wildlife, proposed a long-term water policy for California on Monday that calls for continued conservation, a permanent marketing system to buy and sell water, and new storage and distribution facilities.

Choosing an urban audience for the unveiling of his long-awaited policy, Wilson dropped no political bombshells but sought to establish a broad framework for compromise in the water wars by offering something for everyone.

In that spirit, he said he will create a council of representatives from urban, agricultural and environmental interests to tackle one of the state’s thorniest water issues.

He said the panel will be given three years to come up with solutions for problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the environmentally sensitive estuary that serves as the major transfer point for most of the Northern California water used by Central and Southern California cities and farms.

“Any program must begin by recognizing a disturbing truth: The delta is broken,” Wilson said.

For years the delta has been plagued by problems as agricultural drainage and saltwater intrusion have degraded the quality of the water shipped to the south while continued pumping during dry years has endangered myriad species of fish and wildlife that live in its channels and marshes.

Several water officials viewed Wilson’s proposal for the council as the first step toward undertaking some kind of canal that would carry water from the Sacramento River--isolating the delta--to pumps that would send it south. Although Wilson did not call for such a project, they predicted that any examination of delta problems would conclude that the only solution was through the construction of a canal.

In announcing his water policy, Wilson reiterated his plan for a state takeover of the federal Central Valley Project, the state’s largest purveyor of water. He had planned to make the takeover proposal the centerpiece of his new policy but was forced to announce it last month in an effort to forestall federal legislation that would have changed the way water from the project is distributed in California.

Wilson’s policy was presented to a hastily assembled gathering of water officials, who generally praised him for addressing the state’s long-term water needs but complained that most of the proposals were framed in such broad terms that it was unclear how they would be carried out.

“There are just tons of unanswered questions about how all this works,” said John P. Fraser, executive director of the Assn. of California Water Agencies.

But Carl Boronkay, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the Republican governor had gone further in tackling water issues than any California chief executive since former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, a Democrat.

“Finally, we have a governor that’s willing to address the issue--a very controversial and politically dangerous issue that was ignored by his predecessors for a good number of years,” he said. “He concentrates on facilities; that’s courageous. He says we need to do something about the delta; that’s important. And he says he will support water transfers, which is a very good tool for us.”

The governor received similar praise from farm interests, who have had strong political ties to Wilson throughout his political career. Bob L. Vice, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, said Wilson had correctly recognized that new water storage facilities are essential if the state is to meet the growing demand for water.

Environmentalists were more critical, calling the policy announcement a “vague and limited document that may or may not lead to real reform.”

“Where’s the meat?” asked Patricia Schifferle, of Share the Water, a coalition of environmental groups. “We’re starting out with an environment in serious decline and in some cases faced with extinction. We’d liked to have seen more action.”

Wilson told his audience that he had been careful to move “step by step” and achieve consensus wherever possible. “All major water user groups must recognize that no one sector can be allowed to get ahead of the others in meeting its needs,” he said.

His policy called for the establishment of a permanent water marketing system long favored by urban and environmental interests. But he refused to go along with a “free market” approach that would have angered farmers by preventing water districts from having any say in water transfers. Instead, he said local districts must have a “strong role” in transfers, but he did not specify that role.

To appease environmentalists he proposed that interim standards be established for the delta that are expected to require more water to be released at certain times of year to benefit fish and wildlife. At the same time, he said he would support the construction of new facilities in the south delta to improve water supply for farms and cities and the construction of the Los Banos Grandes Reservoir to store water south of the delta.

Wilson was less specific in other areas, saying that ground water pumping must be better managed but not setting a timetable.

Wilson also said the state must make more use of water recycling and pledged to promote bond issues that would provide the revenues to construct new reclamation facilities.

In Sacramento, the governor’s water plan, which will require legislation before much of it can be implemented, got a predictably lukewarm reception from Democrats and an enthusiastic response from Republicans.

Assemblyman Dominic L. Cortese (D-San Jose), chairman of the Assembly Water Committee, described it as containing “no surprises.”

“The governor is staying away from the more contentious issues,” Cortese said.

In the Senate, Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino), chairman of the Senate Water Committee, characterized the plan for the delta council as just another study.

“I don’t have any problem with further studies of the delta, but I don’t know what we are gong to accomplish with that,” he said.

Assembly GOP Leader Bill Jones (R-Fresno) said Wilson had taken the critical step of bringing all the competing interests “to the table to help resolve California’s long-term water needs.”

Times staff writer Jerry Gillam contributed to this report.