MINUTES OF THE IMPORTED WATER COMMITTEE
October 18 , 2005
CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL
Chair Muir called the Imported Water Committee meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. Committee members present were Chair Muir, Vice Chairs Martin and Saunders, and Directors Bond, Johnson, Lewis, and Linden. Committee members absent were Directors Bowersox, Broomell, Haddad, Parker, Pocklington, Quist, and Representative Slater-Price. At that time, there was not a quorum of the Committee. Chair Muir appointed Director Croucher to the Committee to establish a quorum. Also present were Directors Dailey, Dixon, and Sundram. Staff present included General Counsel Hentschke, Deputy General Manager Lanspery, Director of Imported Water Hess, and others.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There were no members of the public who wished to address the Committee.
OVERVIEW OF “REVITALIZING CALFED” PROCESS – PRESENTATION BY JOE GRINDSTAFF, CALIFORNIA BAY-DELTA AUTHORITY DIRECTOR.
Chair Muir introduced Joe Grindstaff, the interim director of the California Bay-Delta Authority, which oversees the CALFED Bay-Delta Program. Mr. Grindstaff gave a presentation on the revitalizing of the CALFED program. He explained that with the CALFED approach there was coordination between agencies to address ecosystem health and water supply reliability issues in the Bay-Delta. Mr. Grindstaff discussed several significant changes that CALFED needed to adapt to since the program issued its record of decision in 2000. He discussed the Governor’s three-point action plan for improving the program and the components of the program’s review that was currently underway. He said that the objective was to present CALFED’s recommendations on the action plan to the Governor in December.
During Mr. Grindstaff’s presentation, Directors Pocklington and Haddad arrived.
Following Mr. Grindstaff’s presentation, Directors asked questions and made comments.
Chairman Bond asked if it had been a goal of CALFED to provide the maximum amount of water for all of California. Mr. Grindstaff said that this was a fundamental dispute regarding CALFED’s goal of “water supply reliability” versus “more water”. He said that it was his goal for CALFED to reach the point where it could supply the State Water Project with the 4 maf/yr that was in the original contracts. He explained that the issue was based on how and where the funding was spent, and he outlined the necessary steps to create a reliable system.
Director Johnson commented on the need for Southern California to have legislative advocates promote funding for the repair of the Bay-Delta’s levees. Mr. Grindstaff said that California would receive funding for the repair of the levees as part of the supplemental bill for Hurricane Katrina relief, but that California would provide the majority of the funding.
Chairman Bond and Director Martin departed the meeting. The committee retained a quorom.
In response to other questions from Directors, Mr. Grindstaff discussed the concept of building a peripheral canal, changes to the Delta’s ecosystem, and the benefits of creating storage sites. Directors commented on how economics and politics affect the implementation of CALFED’s programs, and the financing of the program from user contributions versus state funding. Mr. Grindstaff said that a proposal would soon be presented to water agencies for their contributions to help stabilize the system. He said that in addition to user contributions, CALFED would continue to work on acquiring state legislature funding.
Director Sundram suggested that in anticipation of an emergency or disaster situation, as with the levees, that it would be beneficial for agencies and programs to have a solid emergency response plan in place, so if a disaster were to occur, the plan could be presented to Congress and quickly implemented.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Imported Water Committee, Chair Muir adjourned the meeting at 9:50 a.m.
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Mark Muir
Chair, Imported Water Committee
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