AP IMPACT: Calif. Water Is Getting Worse

Map shows Sacramento-San Joaquin delta region of California; 1c x 3 1/2 inches; 46.5 mm x 88.9 mm (Philip Holm - AP)

Already, partly because of CalFed's lack of progress, California's water wars are flaring anew. Over the summer, a federal judge slapped limits on the pumping of water from the delta to protect fish, raising fears of a statewide water shortage next year.

AP's review found that some CalFed efforts have fallen short. For example, the various agencies that carry out water projects under CalFed's aegis initially proposed spending $950 million to eliminate mercury and other contaminants from the delta water. But the agency has spent just 13 percent of that _ about $125 million _ and produced little if any improvement in water quality.

Fourteen California and federal agencies have access to CalFed money. But CalFed does not have full authority over how the money is spent. Its 24-member board, made up of state, federal and local officials as well as members of the public, can only sign off on grant requests.

The $4.7 billion allotted to the program so far has been treated like a grab bag by the agencies that have access to the money, with the vast majority of it spent on hundreds of projects outside the six-county delta region.

Among the expenditures:

_ $113 million to improve the taste of tap water in Southern California, hundreds of miles from the delta. (As envisioned by lawmakers, CalFed was supposed to improve water quality at the source _ in the delta itself.)

_ More than $40 million to tear down five dams along Battle Creek, about 160 miles from the northern point of the delta, to restore 42 miles of habitat for salmon and steelhead trout.

_ $118 million on studies to build or expand dams in Northern and Central California, three of which are outside the delta.

"Money was flying out the door all over the place," said Jeffrey Mount, chairman of the CalFed science panel.

Supporters of the agency's spending say some of the peripheral projects _ namely, water recycling and conservation measures _ have indirectly eased pressure on the delta by generating enough drinking water for 4 million to 5 million people.

In one example, the rapidly growing Chino area in Southern California, more than 300 miles from the delta, secured $1 million in CalFed money to help expand a wastewater recycling plant instead of pumping water out of the delta.

"Everybody benefits by us reducing our demand for water out of the delta, so that's how we qualified," said Richard Atwater, general manager of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in defense of CalFed: "CalFed was never meant to be the be-all and end-all. It was a methodology to try to get the federal government and the state working together."

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Samantha Young reported from Sacramento, while Erica Werner reported from Washington.