When I think back to the beginning of this newsletter, I didn't know what to expect -- how fast it would grow, how long it would last, or even how appealing it would be to subscribers. Some of you might remember (actually, I'd be really surprised if you do) the predecessor to CAW, Capitol Action Daily, the short-lived and now-defunct Web version of this newsletter. I must say that the weekly, e-mail version has been a much greater success -- if not financially, at least in terms of interest retention.

This is now a plea for your support. Why not advertise in CAW? What better way to directly reach your peers, customers, or even potential voters? CAW gives you a convenient, inexpensive medium by which to get your word out to a large number of individuals. For more info and on pricing (our rates ARE negotiable), write mailto:ads@capenq.com.

Have a great week, and keep that feedback coming!

-Gabe

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For generations, Californians have wrestled with the enormous problem of fairly distributing water across one of the world's most diverse landscapes. Rain falls in the north, but the thirsty population is concentrated in the south, so the basic conundrum is this: How do we move water from where it is to where it isn't?

Aside from growth, two other considerations deserve attention. The farmers need water to grow crops, and environmentalists fear that moving large amounts of water around will damage fish and wildlife.

The crux of California's water debate is the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco, an enormous marsh and lowland into which the great rivers flow from the Sierra Nevada on their way to the sea. Fully eight out of every 10 gallons of drinking water consumed every year in California passes through this delta. At the delta's southern edge, state and federal pumps take water out and push it south to the Central Valley and the Los Angeles Basin.

But for decades, there has been little agreement on how best to utilize California's water. In particular, the health of the delta has proven fragile. Bedeviled by aging levees, salinity and pumping, protecting the delta is a major concern of environmentalists, who say improperly extracting water from the delta damages its ecosystem.

In 1982, voters rejected a huge public works project called the Peripheral Canal that engineers believed then -- and many still do now -- would have protected the delta by shipping surplus water from the north to the south around the edge, or periphery, of the delta.

Repeated attempts to come to a general water agreement came to naught.

Enter CalFed, a group of scores of state and federal bureaucrats, water experts and scientists, environmentalists, water district executives and others, who have the ambitious goal of settling California's delta-linked water problems.

The group has been meeting, conferring, writing, holding hearings, evaluating testimony and talking for four years. CalFed sees itself as a consensus builder, the basic theory being that the more people -- CalFed calls them "stakeholders" -- get involved in the negotiations, the more they will accept the final result.

But the long-awaited report that CalFed released last week did not offer any hard conclusions or even recommendations, except on issues that already enjoyed a measure of political support.

Rather, it offered a series of choices to be considered by the public during three months of hearings. Then, the results of those hearings will be incorporated in a future report, which in turn will go before the public and, ultimately, even lawmakers. Along the way, there will be much talk.

The problem for the exasperated public is that CalFed never seems to say, "Let's build a new reservoir" or "Let's throw the canal idea out" or "Let's send more water south."

CalFed says lengthy discussion is necessary to reach consensus on the difficult questions surrounding water.

But those who are not versed in the intricacies of water issues want direction from the experts. The fundamental questions of what to do and how to pay for it have not really been addressed in any meaningful, definitive way.

But there's been a lot of talk.

With a change in governor and the first change in party in 16 years, the new governor has been making hundreds of appointments, but he isn't finished yet. We know that you need your State Agency Directory, so we've decided to process the information we have received to date and get the directory ready for the printers. Give us a couple weeks and the State Agency Directory WILL BE AVAILABLE. We apologize for the long delays and appreciate your patience. Please be assured that we will continue to pay utmost attention to the accuracy and timeliness of information, as we have for over 25 years.

*** 1999 Pocket Directory Now Available ***

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*** Committee Rosters Now Online ***

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*** Current Legislative Roster Available on Web Site ***

Looking for the current roster of the Assembly or Senate? Head on over to http://www.capenq.com/gov/info.html for links to the current lists -- complete with district, member name, party, room and phone number.