California water agreement could help Nevadans

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 1999 | 10:47 a.m.

A deal to distribute California's share of the Colorado River and stop its farmers from taking more than the state's allotment is good news for Southern Nevada, a top water official said.

Southern Nevada Water Authority Deputy Manager David Donnelly said Monday the agreement reached between Southern California water agencies, the U.S. Department of Interior and the California Department of Resources will go a long way toward keeping California within the 4.4 million acre-feet it is supposed to receive from the river each year.

"We're pleased they have finally agreed on something," Donnelly said. "We've been urging them to do this for a long time."

The biggest issue has been how to divide agricultural water from the river among irrigation districts, Donnelly said.

Of the 4.4 million acre-feet allotted annually to California, only 500,000 had been earmarked for urban use. The rest went to irrigation.

Years of squabbling between irrigation districts ended with an agreement reached in August, but its terms were withheld until Monday after local governments and water agencies approved them.

The agreement also requires state and federal approval.

The Imperial Irrigation District and San Diego County Water Authority settled on an agreement to move ahead with a water conservation and transfer agreement without facing legal challenges.

The agreement caps Imperial's water use at 3.1 million acre-feet and protects the valley's senior water rights, allows farmers to farm the same amount of land with less water, avoids long and expensive state and federal court challenges and offers "peace treaties" that eliminate challenges against Imperial's water use.

Lawsuits filed by Metropolitan and Coachella over terms of the Imperial-San Diego water transfer will be dropped once the agreement is final, but district officials said they were still determining what would happen to the litigation in the interim.

"This momentous event will allow (the Imperial Irrigation District) to help Southern California establish a reliable long-term water supply and achieve peace in the water wars, but not at the sacrifice of out time-honored water rights," Imperial board member Lloyd Allen said.

"This shows we are unified and serious about reining in our use of the Colorado River water and that we will live as good neighbors to the other six basin states," said Tom Hannigan, director of California's Department of Water Resources and one of the agreement negotiators.

"This quantification and the long-term peace that comes with it will also mean better utilization of California's share," he said.

The federal government has regularly allowed California to take more than its river share, sometimes up to 5.2 million acre-feet per year. An acre-foot of water will serve a family of four for a year.

Most of California's water went to irrigate desert farms. That was possible because other users of the Colorado River -- Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico -- did not need their full share. Nevada is allowed to use 300,000 acre-feet a year, the smallest share of the river.

As the population has boomed in the West, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has been pressured to rein in California. Either live within the original allotment, Babbitt told California officials, or face imposed federal reductions.

"It was done on a consensual basis ... which took courageous leadership," David Hayes, acting deputy secretary of the Department of Interior, said. "These districts have historically been like the Hatfields and the McCoys." The Associated Press

contributed to this story.