Dams, water conservation at issue in water reform

From the Sacramento Bee
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
By Matt Weiser

The stalemate over water reform in California these days swirls around a single word that for decades has ignited conflict among ideological opposites: dams.

Conservatives, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, insist on building new dams, believing that pooling water in a canyon will end California’s thirst.

Liberals first want legal assurances that California will make better use of the water it has ­ a plea for more regulation that seems pointless to the thirsty.

The age-old conflict remains a key barrier to a water reform package now being tossed around the state Legislature.

Water experts believe there’s a solution somewhere in the middle: more water storage and tighter control of that stored water.

There’s one proposed dam that tries to fill that middle ground as something more than idle storage. This one is not your traditional dam.

The proposed Sites Reservoir would flood the remote Antelope Valley, which lies northwest of Sacramento near the Colusa County town of Maxwell.

For more see: http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2166129.html