By New Year's Eve, a panel of state Cabinet secretaries called the Delta Vision Committee will send the governor and Legislature a plan to replumb and restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub of California's freshwater delivery system.

It will be one of the most ambitious infrastructure and habitat restoration projects ever proposed in America.

The Delta provides drinking water to 25 million Californians and irrigates 3 million acres of farmland via diversion pumps near Tracy. But these diversions have contributed to a broad ecosystem collapse in the Delta, including nine fish species in steep decline. As a result, water deliveries to the Bay Area and Southern California have been curtailed.

California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman, who chairs the Delta Vision Committee, and Karla Nemeth, his liaison to the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, describe how their planning efforts likely will converge, probably in 2010, in a big decision for California voters.

The committee is expected to propose a new water canal around the Delta to separate demand for the Sacramento River's freshwater supply from the estuary's sensitive environment.

Also expected are new water conservation measures and a new governing body to manage the Delta. The Bay-Delta Conservation Plan is preparing a similar package of projects to obtain approval under the state and federal endangered species acts.

How significant are these projects to the state?

Chrisman: They are very significant. When you think about the vision that helped create the Central Valley Project back in the '20s, the vision that Gov. (Pat) Brown and others had to build the State Water Project, this is a big effort. These are projects that are going to be built over quite an extended period of time – 10, 15, 20 years.

Have public attitudes changed toward the idea of a Delta canal?

Chrisman: People recognize that a lot of time has passed since the defeat of the peripheral canal back in 1982. Are we talking about a canal of the size that was talked about in 1982 – 21,000 cubic feet per second? I don't know. That's one of the alternatives. Most people recognize that we've got to do something. The "something" is what we're debating now.

Delta residents will bear the brunt of these changes. We're talking, potentially, about buying out entire islands and running a canal through others. What do you have to say to them?

Chrisman: We understand those concerns and appreciate those concerns, and our commitment is to continue to address those concerns. There's a lot of very strongly held views on these issues. You look at what a special place the Delta is. We recognize that. Our commitment is to make sure those aren't just words, that we really live by that and work with the folks down there. Are we going to agree on everything? Of course not.

Tell us how your committee and the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan fit together.

Nemeth: BDCP lays out a set of project objectives, and marries them with a conservation strategy for species that contributes to the recovery of those species. It also identifies a dedicated funding stream. In this case, it would be contributions from the water users.

Chrisman: We (the committee) will be producing an implementation plan … that will constitute our recommendation to the governor by the end of this year. BDCP will inform whatever decisions are ultimately made by the governor and the Legislature on how to move forward. BDCP will be the permitting arm of these efforts.

Nemeth: One of the real benefits of the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan is that it really focuses on helping fish species recover through sustaining the entire ecosystem. We really believe the opportunities for success are high with this kind of a process.

Will all this culminate in a ballot measure or legislation?

Chrisman: The possibility is "yes" to all of that. Clearly there will have to be, down the road, some bond measure to help fund some of these efforts.

The Delta Vision Task Force called for initial legislation by May 2009 to begin reforming government in the Delta to make these large projects work. What is your time frame to have projects ready to build?

Chrisman: The only deadline is the deadline that requires the Cabinet committee to send our recommendation to the governor by the end of this year. Quite frankly, these are things we really can't wait for. We have got to move and we have got to move now. The urgency is today.

The task force also said Delta water diversions have been excessive in the past, and we may have to divert less in the future to protect the environment. What will you recommend?

Chrisman: That's yet to be determined in this process. There's a number of questions that have got to be answered through this process first. They're going to be answered in an open and transparent way. We just don't have the answers to that yet.

Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264. To comment on Delta issues, visit our reader forum at www.sacbee.com/delta.