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<br />Meanwhile, the Western Governors Association <br />(WGA) convened its own Drought Emergency Task <br />Force in 1996 to begin work on developing better <br />responses to droughts and measures to mitigate their <br />impacts. Drought should be an essential part of any <br />national discussion of water policy, especially in <br />Western states, the task force recommended. <br /> <br />One ot the WGA task force's early findings was <br />that states need to develop drought-contingency <br />plans that provide for infrastructure, monitoring <br />and early detection of drought. Such plans also <br />should include long-term drought-mitigation strate- <br />gies and programs to raise pUblic awareness of <br />drought. The severe economic impacts of drought <br />can be mitigated substantially by an integrated <br />approach to drought management, according to the <br />WGA report. <br /> <br />Key recommendafions of the WGA task force include <br />the tollowing: <br /> <br />. States without drought-contingency plans should <br />develop such plans, and states that already have <br />plans should expand them to address long-term <br />drought.mitigation activities. <br /> <br />CALFED <br /> <br />In 1994, a broad array of interests that included <br />state and federal government agencies, urban <br />water suppliers, agriculture and environmental. <br />ists declared a truce in the water war that has <br />divided California for decades. While these <br />diverse parties didn't agree on a solution at that <br />time, they did agree to put aside their differences <br />for a while and participate in a collaborative pro- <br />cess to address the core of California's water <br />system: the Bay-Delta. Since then, what has <br />become known as the CALF ED Bay-Delta pro- <br />cess has been working on collaborative solutions <br />to the numerous issues associated with the Delta. <br /> <br />Water-efficiency measures in varying degrees are <br />being studied. These include programs to reduce <br />demand for water and encourage reuse of water <br />in the system. In general, CALFED planners <br />believe that making more efficient use of water is <br />an important tool to reduce competition for water <br />flowing through the Delta and mismatches <br />between available water supply, the timing of its <br />availability and the combined beneficial needs for <br />that water. <br /> <br />. A regional drought-coordinating council should be <br />established and meet regularly during non-drought <br />periods to exchange information and develop long- <br />term drought-mitigation strategies; during drought <br />events, the council would monitor conditions and <br />state responses. facilitate interstate activities and <br />work in partnership with federal agencies on drought. <br />relief programs. <br /> <br /> <br />. The federal government should establish an Inter- <br />agency Drought Coordinaling Committee or task <br />force to formulate and recommend an integrated <br />national drought policy for adoption by Congress and <br />the executive branch. <br /> <br />Scientists are working to develop new tools to better <br />predict droughts and measure their severity. <br />If the onset of drought can be identified earlier, <br />mitigation procedures, including water conservation <br />measures and water transfers, can be invoked to <br />reduce the severity of the event. <br /> <br />More information on drought planning is available <br />from the National Drought Mitigation Center's <br />home page on the World Wide Web at http:// <br />www.enso.unl.edu/ndmc. <br /> <br />The CALFED process is scheduled to be com- <br />pleted at the end of 1998, and a workgroup is <br />meeting regularly to develop specific water con- <br />servation actions to be included in whatever <br />solution is selected. Options the workgroup <br />are considering include widespread adoption <br />of the urban BMPs and the agriculturat <br />EWMPs. Representatives of urban and agricul- <br />tural water users, the state, and environmental <br />organizations participate in the workgroup's <br />discussions. <br /> <br />In the November 1996 election, California voters <br />approved the first major water bond proposal in <br />neariy a decade. a $995 million generai obliga- <br />tion bond issue to partially fund projects that <br />emerge from the CALF ED process. That proposal <br />included $235 million for programs to improve <br />water quality and water recycling and $117 million <br />to increase the reliability of water supplies by such <br />measures as off-stream storage, water-transfer <br />facilities, groundwater recharge and canal lining. <br />The bond issue allocated $30 million for projects <br />to develop facilities for groundwater recharge and <br />make capital investments in agricultural and <br />urban water conservation facilities. <br /> <br />7 <br />