Major new water legislation in California

Sweeping new legislation in California underlines how drought and population growth can alter what have long been seen as hard and fast political lines.

In California Water Overhaul Caps Use, the New York Times summarizes a bill passed Wednesday and likely to be signed by Governor Schwarzenegger. The package ties together ecosystem restoration and new infrastructure -- including dams and canals.

The plan calls for a comprehensive ecosystem restoration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta — a collection of channels, natural habitats and islands at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers that is a major source of the state’s drinking water.

It also calls for new dams, aggressive water conservation goals and the monitoring of groundwater use, which other Western states already do. And it paves the way for a new canal — once the third rail of California’s byzantine water politics — that would move water from the north of the state to the south.

What might this suggest for the future of water politics in our own region? Ideas?