California water woes -- a phrase that just seems to write itself -- get some national attention on Wednesday when the Interior Department hosts a half-day public hearing. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and his deputy David Hayes are inviting a bunch of the usual suspects to Washington to discuss what the department calls, rather delicately, "water supply challenges."

San Joaquin Valley lawmakers, members of the California Latino Water Coalition, Lester Snow of the California Department of Water Resources and others will participate in the morning-long program. It's a follow-up to a similar program held in Sacramento last August.

Will anything come out of it? Politicians and government officials like to speak of "take-aways" at public events, meaning that something gets announced: a grant, say, or a new policy or new study. And, who knows, maybe Interior will want to present the Californians with something semi-tangible.