Davis signs bill delaying transport of water from North Coast rivers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Gov. Gray Davis delayed a plan to collect water from North Coast rivers in giant bags and float them south for sale in San Diego.

Davis signed a bill, written by Assemblywoman Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, requiring fish habitat studies before the water can be collected and towed away.

Alaska Water Exports' has asked the state Water Resources Control board to let it pump 14,000 acre-feet of winter and spring runoff each year from the Gualala and Albion rivers in Mendocino County. The water would be piped out to sea to fill fiberpoly bags the length of three football fields, and tugboats would then tow them to Southern California.

The bill Davis signed Friday delays those plans, requiring the University of California to study how reduced water flow would affect salmon and steelhead. Some of those species are protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Wiggins said the studies could take at least five years to complete, but Alaska Water Exports president Ric Davidge said they could be done in two.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered Southern California to reduce its reliance on water from the Colorado River, so the region is seeking other sources.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)