Thursday, December 12, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: Showdown in the desert

California's rejected water deal

When California's Imperial Irrigation District voted Monday to refuse to transfer Colorado River water to San Diego, the rural policy-makers may have launched the opening salvo in a water war.

For years now, California has taken about 20 percent more water than its annual allocation from the river. To date, this hasn't caused problems among the six Western states that also receive water from the basin, particularly Nevada and Arizona, because excess runoff from rain and snow has allowed these states to use more than their allotments as well.

But that equilibrium may be in jeopardy. The four-year drought has reduced annual snowmelts. And the rapid population growth throughout the region means that before long, there won't be enough water for states to surpass their allocations. Something will have to give.

Policy-makers in the seven states had worked out a deal that would allow California 15 years to gradually reduce its overconsumption, locking in predictable water supplies in the remaining states. To make the deal work, though, agricultural areas, including the Imperial Valley, would have to use less water from the river and in fact transfer some of their allocation to Southern California city dwellers. Now, the entire agreement is in flux.

The Imperial Valley, with about 150,000 residents, is the poorest area of California. Unemployment is about 20 percent, and the region is entirely dependent on irrigation to keep its farms working. Even though the valley gets its river water for free, paying only a $15.50 per acre-foot delivery charge, officials balked at the opportunity to sell 200,000 acre-feet of water, or about 6.5 percent of the valley's allocation, to San Diego for $258 an acre-foot -- nearly 17 times what the district now pays for the water.

A sizable number of Imperial Valley residents oppose the sale because it would force the region to take some crop land out of production -- the Imperial Valley produces nearly $1 billion in food and other agricultural products a year. But as the Southwest becomes the most urbanized region of the United States, it's an anachronism to continue providing subsidized water to farmers -- especially when urban users are willing to pay much higher prices for the commodity.

The deadline to finalize the pact is Dec. 31, and the Bush administration has promised to turn off the spigots and hold California to its actual allocation if the agreement isn't completed.

Deal or no deal, officials in San Diego say they expect to have enough water for at least two more years.

But Southern Nevada Water Authority chief Pat Mulroy says the agreement is essential to secure area water supplies. If it falls through, she says, and the Bush administration enforces the original allocations which were set decades ago, the local water supply might drop by as much as 10 percent.

Ms. Mulroy is correct to point out that "the whole state (of California) has lost credibility" because its water districts were unable to hold up their end of the bargain. One way or another, folks in the Imperial Valley must modernize their farming lifestyle and embrace agricultural practices that are less water-intensive and more in tune with the marketplace.