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• Water Conservation: What are the Limits, How Can We Get There, and What Will It Cost?
• The CALFED Bay-Delta Program "Finance Options Report"

Lunch will be served at 11:30 am (RSVP to [email protected] if you plan on joining us for lunch).

Meeting Information

Water Conservation: What are the Limits, How Can We Get There, and What Will It Cost?

Our speakers will be:

• Mary Ann Dickinson, Executive Director, California Urban Water Conservation Council
• Gary Wolff, Pacific Institute, Author of "Waste Not, Want Not"
• Steve Macaulay, Executive Director, California Urban Water Agencies
• Dore Burry, Project Manager, Korean Youth Community Center

The California Urban Water Agencies (CUWA) has examined the Pacific Institute's "Waste Not, Want Not" report and offers praise for the report's scope and analysis while questioning some assumptions and conclusions. More importantly, CUWA believes the debate needs to shift from estimates of potential to the challenges of implementation.

Mary Ann Dickinson will speak to the challenges facing conservation and how we can overcome those challenges. Some propose the use of rate structures to encourage conservation. Others urge legislation to change building or plumbing codes. The use of "offsets" is touted as an essential tool to promote increased conservation. Offsets are conservation actions that an organization can take at an alternate site that are credited to a specific project.

Dore Burry is Project Manager for Community Economic Development /Environmental at the Korean Youth Community Center (KYCC). He will bring an on-the-ground, community activist perspective to the discussion. KYCC distributes water saving products to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers. At no cost to qualified customers, KYCC installs the Ultra-Low Flush Toilet, replaces showerheads, and kitchen and bathroom aerators to help conserve water resources and to lower residential water bills.

The CALFED Bay-Delta Program - Status of Finance Planning

Speaker - Kate Hansel, Assistant Director for Policy & Finance, California Bay-Delta Authority (CBDA)

CBDA (CALFED) has issued it's long-awaited "Draft Finance Options Report." Kate Hansel, Assistant Director for Policy & Finance, will give an overview of the Draft Finance Options Report, budget legislation related to possible new water user fees, and the status of the 10-Year CALFED Bay Delta Program Finance Plan.

The Draft Finance Options Report acknowledges the reality that continuing the status quo of heavy reliance on funding support from the California and federal governments is questionable given the current fiscal crisis. The Report provides the foundation for understanding the costs and benefits of the CALFED Program. The draft report is intended to help decision-makers and stakeholders better understand how different groups are likely to benefit from CALFED actions and how these expected benefits translate into cost-sharing arrangements. In addition, the CBDA has recently begun a process of developing a specific 10-Year Finance Plan that will focus on reasonable funding targets, identify available funding, and propose finance tools and cost sharing arrangments to fund the remainder of the Program. CBDA, using the draft options report as the starting point for negotiations, is working with agencies and stakeholders over the next several months to develop the 10 year plan. The Options Report and 10 year plan are expected to be final this fall 2004.

Kathy F. Caldwell
Water Dialogue Coordinator
Southern California Regional Coordinator, Bay-Delta Authority

Sr. Project Manager
Water Resources and Environmental Management
CH2M Hill
555 So. Flower St., Suite 3550
Los Angeles, CA 90071
213 538 1388 x35 phone
310 600 8215 mobile
213 538 1399 fax