SACRAMENTO — The state Legislature finished with one piece of a multi-part water package Tuesday when the Assembly approved a bill mandating a statewide drop in per capita water use.
Lawmakers were headed for another long night, with the Assembly expected to take up several other measures approved by the Senate in a midnight session Monday, including a massive water bond.
"We are comfortable and confident that we will wrap up and we will have the votes," Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said.
The Assembly was drawing up amendments to add $1 billion to the bond measure passed by the Senate, pushing it to nearly $11 billion.
The bond, which would go before voters next year, sets aside $3 billion for new storage and $2 billion for ecosystem restoration in the deteriorating Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
But to attract statewide support, it spreads money all over California. It would fund recycling and groundwater cleanup important to Southern California, pay for Salton Sea restoration, and watershed projects on the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers.
There is money for local drought relief, Lake Tahoe, a dam-removal project on the Klamath River in Northern California and Sierra foothill communities.
The conservation measure sets a goal of reducing overall urban per capita water use a fifth by 2020. Agencies that fail to meet their target would not be eligible for state water grants and loans.
Noting that the bill's 45 "yes" votes came from both parties, Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), the bill's sponsor, called it "a particularly meaningful vote."
"It puts California on the road to making sure everybody has something to contribute" to conservation.
The measure has been criticized for treading lightly with agriculture, the greatest water user in the state. It directs irrigation districts to adopt management plans, but sets no conservation targets for them.
Parts of the state with high water use have also decried the conservation mandate, which demands less of a cut from urban coastal areas with lower use.
Northern areas "are willing to help with our more generous supply of water . . . but we're not willing to do it to the point of our peril," said Assemblyman Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks). "We have a lifestyle that goes with it."
The Assembly also debated a statewide groundwater monitoring measure approved by the Senate earlier Tuesday.
