Critics say the bills fall short in several key areas:
- The Delta Stewardship Council, to be formed this year, lacks the clout it needs to implement change. For example, major decisions about wildlife habitat and water pumping still need to be approved by state and federal agencies that often have competing priorities.
- The state Water Resources Control Board will determine how much freshwater ought to flow into the delta, but it will not be required to follow its own guidelines when reviewing permits to divert water.
- The legislation fails to identify ongoing funding for the delta council, restoration efforts, a new science panel and enforcement of the state's water laws. The $11.1 billion bond before voters would provide only a portion of the money needed.
Scientists, fishermen, environmentalists and some lawmakers long involved in California's water disputes question whether the environmental problems can be solved under those circumstances. They note that state lawmakers and Congress have devoted billions of dollars to restoring the delta and improving water transfers over the years with little to show.
"There are a lot of grand ideas and a lot of things that don't seem to have a lot of authority behind them," said Peter Moyle, a fish biologist at the University of California, Davis.
Farmers and some delta residents also say the delta will never recover until tough guidelines are implemented to guarantee how much river water must continue flowing through it - a way to ensure that pumping does not deprive the estuary of the freshwater it needs.
That's been a thorny issue for years as water agencies dependent on delta exports are eager to protect the water they have traditionally received.
"Just throwing money at something isn't going to do it," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "They could give us a trillion dollars and it's not going to restore the fish unless there's water for them at the right times and then that it's good quality water."
Supporters of the legislation emphasize that it was not intended to solve all the state's water problems or repair the delta overnight. But they also say more needs to be done.
For example, the state, delta residents, water and wildlife agencies, farm interests and environmental groups need to agree about how the delta is used in the future - how much land is set aside for flood bypasses, as habitat for native species, and for farming and housing.
"We're going to have to set targets for what we want to do to save the delta ecosystem, and we're not there yet," said Gary Bobker, director of the delta program for the Bay Institute, which is based in Novato, north of San Francisco.
The Associated Press