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7A Page 11 showerheads, still uses the same amount of water today that it did thirty years ago. California farmers and water suppliers have adopted state-of-the-art water conservation measures, such as micro-irrigation and satellite crop and soil moisture sensing systems to improve water management and irrigation practices. As a result, agricultural water use efficiency, measured in tons of production per acre-foot of water, has increased by nearly 40 percent since 1980. There is certainly much more we can do to use water more efficiently, which is why I plan to sign Assembly Bill 715 to require low-flush toilets in new building construction, and why I proposed $1 billion in funding for local conservation and water recycling programs as part of our bond package. But much more, even beyond conservation, remains to be done. Estimates are that Los Angeles now saves more than 900,000 acre.feet per year in water through conservation compared to thirty years ago. As good as that is, it didn't prevent Mayor VlIIaraigosa from having to ask Los Angeles residents to cut back water usage by 10 percent this year because of water supply problems. Local officials in Los Angeles and San Diego counties recently considered denying permits for new housing developments because state and focal water agencies cannot guarantee enough water to serve those homes. California's population is expected to reach 60 million over the next forty years. Conservation alone cannot possibly meet that demand. The public has a strong interest in building new reservoirs. Critics claim State government should not agree to build new reservoirs until private water users agree to pay for all or most of it. They point to former Governor Pat Brown and the State Water Project as a model to replicate. The fact is that the Legislature approved funding to build reservoirs and canals for the State Water Project before a single private contract was in place to pay for any portion of it. Government leaders then had a vision for California's water infrastructure needs, and they took the lead in building reservoirs knowing that local governments and water agencies would pay their share of the costs commensurate with the benefits they would receive. But we can no longer afford to have our reservoirs and water supplies governed primarily by the needs of iocal water contractors. The fact is that we need reservoir capacity for flood control purposes, and we need a place to store water for environmental purposes, especially since our traditional storage. the Sierra snowpack . is less reliable due to climate change. Environmental water can be used to keep cold water flowing in rivers during spawning season for salmon. It can be used to keep drinking water safe from saltwater intrusion in the Delta. It . can be used to make critical water deliveries to Central and Southern California when the pumps are idled to protect tiny Delta Smelt from extinction. My proposal assumes that the public would own and benefit from up to half of the new capacity in the proposed reservoirs. Local beneficiaries would contract to pay for their share before a single public dollar was spent to begin building these facilities. That's more protection for an investment of public dollars than our predecessors gave when the State Water Project was first built. California needs a balanced and comprehensive plan for our water future. While some want to limit the actions we take, I believe we must invest in a wide range of tools including expanded storage, new conveyance and conservation. The plan does not work if we don't have all three. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger 3