2003: The Year Of Water Policy

California policymakers have long been obsessed with water, and 2003will be no different, says California Planning & Development Report AssociateEditor John Krist. A dwindling supply of Colorado River water and a scheduledupdate of the State Water Plan ensure that water will remain thepreeminent natural resource issue in California this year: "In the immediate future, water planners have to confront fallout from the December debacle in El Centro, where three members of the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) board left 17 million Southern Californians in limbo by rejecting a tortuously negotiated deal — endorsed by many of the valley’s farmers — to sell water to the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) and thereby enable the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) to continue receiving temporarily surplus Colorado River flows (see Page 1, CP&DR Environment Watch, December 2002)."