California water seen as environment issue, not North vs. South

Sooner or later southern Californians are going to get more water from the north. And yet the newest proposal to do it has rekindled the political rift over water policy that makes compromise difficult.

The new plan would expand channels feeding the main north-south aqueduct, and it raises issues tinged with sentiment that is typically Californian. Traditionally labeled a north-south rivalry, the water issue today is more correctly an illustration of a statewide credo often that gives equal weight to the often conflicting goals of environ-mentalism and economic prosperity.

Gov. George Deukmejian’s water plan – called the ”through-delta canal” – would increase water flowing through the Sacramento-San