Within days, Sacramento County will consider approving a controversial 25,000-person housing development. north of Interstate 80 that currently lacks an amenity that no home or person can do without: A water source. … The 2,000-acre plan known as Upper Westside is surrounded on three sides by the city and the Sacramento River to the west. … A state law promoting better water planning two decades ago, and endorsed by the Sacramento Bee, aimed to prevent local land use agencies like Sacramento County from approving big developments with what is known as “paper water.” This describes some vague plan for water without a firm supply. At the moment, Upper Westside has paper water.
–Written by Sacramento Bee columnist Tom Philp.