Calif. lawmakers again fail to reach water deal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California lawmakers met again Saturday in hopes of reaching a deal to upgrade the state's decades-old water system, but left without resolving a handful of major outstanding issues.

Lawmakers offered only lukewarm reactions to their meeting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Saturday, despite the governor's claim a day earlier that they were on the verge of a historic breakthrough on water.

Lawmakers are trying to draft a plan to upgrade California's water system, which is failing to provide for farmers, cities and wildlife. They agreed to meet at the Capitol again today.

Hanging in the balance are about 700 bills that Schwarzenegger has until midnight tonight to sign or veto. He had previously threatened to veto "a lot" of the bills unless lawmakers agreed to a comprehensive water deal, but backed off late in the week when lawmakers appeared to be making progress. Action on the legislation was delayed until this afternoon.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said lawmakers needed a little more time to work on a complicated task that has eluded Sacramento for decades.

Upgrading the water system is a top priority for Schwarzenegger, who is heading into his last year in office and wants to count a water deal as part of his legacy.

The state's network of reservoirs and canals dates to the term of Gov. Pat Brown in the 1960s. Schwarzenegger and many others have said the system is inadequate for today's population and the millions of people likely to be added in the years ahead.

Three years of dry weather have left many Central Valley farmers and cities short of water. Supplies also have been cut back by federal pumping restrictions to protect a collapsing ecosystem in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.