A Water Deal for California

If you had to pick an issue that's been at the heart of California political squabbles over the past forty years or so, you'd be hard pressed to pick a better one than water. So it was understandable that the governor was practically gushing when he signed legislation passed this week to overhaul the state's aging water system. The bills call for new dams and reservoirs, water conservation and restoration of the Sacramento Delta along with monitoring of groundwater -- and voters will be asked to sign off on $11 billion in bonds to pay for it.