California water users try to reach agreement

Monday, Dec. 16, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

California water users met behind closed doors Sunday with representatives of the Imperial Valley Irrigation District to try to hammer out an agreement that would avert federal plans to cut off the supply of surplus Colorado River water to the state.

Today, Interior Secretary Gale Norton threatened again to cut California's share of the Colorado River if a dispute among water agencies isn't resolved by Dec. 31.

Norton likened the current negotiations to a game of high-stakes poker saying, it is "time for the Department of Interior to lay its cards on the table and show it's not bluffing."

"The stakes are high," she said.

Calling herself the "river master," Norton said she would withhold enough water to supply 1.6 California households starting New Year's Day.

A vote last week by the rural irrigation district to reject a proposal to share water with urban areas has jeopardized a plan among all Colorado River users on how to divide the available water.

As the water districts that rely on the river gathered in Las Vegas for the Colorado River Water Users Association annual meeting, California representatives met late into the night trying to work out new agreements.

"It's California. California has to figure out a solution other states will feel comfortable with," Southern Nevada Water Authority spokesman Vince Alberta said. "It's going to be the buzz of the conference."

Because the local supply is linked to California's, the Las Vegas Valley could lose 30,000 acre-feet of the river's surplus, Alberta said.

A continuing drought raises the stakes, and the pressure showed on the faces of conference attendees as they moved in and out of closed-door sessions Sunday. Water experts who normally would be smiling and visiting over coffee and drinks at the annual December meeting were looking tense and tired.

While in past years laughter could be heard approaching the meeting rooms, this year only silence could be heard in the hallways.

"I think they are working very hard to do something," said Alberta, who had already worked the weekend and expected to begin his workday at 6 a.m. today.

Seven Western states and Mexico have staked claims to the Colorado River, serving more than 25 million people in the West.

Many attending the conference at Caesars Palace through Tuesday said the meeting is one of the last chances for California to bring a stubborn rural irrigation district around to agree on a 75-year plan weaning the state from overdrawing the river without the federal government taking control. California is allowed 4.4 million acre-feet a year from the Colorado, but has taken more than its share of unused river water in the past.

"Cities in Southern California will bear an immediate shortfall," Norton said today. Consumers would not soon feel any effects because California's large water districts maintain sufficient reserves to last more than a year.

If an agreement came after the Dec. 31 deadline, Norton said water supplies would resume.

"They are continuing to meet and will meet to see how it can be done and if it will be done," said Jerry Zimmerman, executive director of the Colorado River Commission of California.

Late Sunday there was no deal.

"I have not been informed of a breakthrough," Zimmerman said. "Everybody who is associated with the process is taking it seriously."

As drought dragged into a fourth year, Southern Nevada can expect to feel the pinch with tougher conservation measures and a rate hike if there is no relief this winter, Alberta said.

Western cities such as Denver with smaller reservoirs on the Colorado than Lake Mead have already felt the drought's effects, Alberta said.

"Drought will have an impact on Southern Nevada this summer," Alberta said. "If drought continues, our turn will come this summer."

Imperial Valley officials rejected a long-term conservation plan last week.

The plan calls for transferring water from the valley's $1 billion worth of farms to Los Angeles and San Diego counties, Zimmerman said. The irrigation district board said the deal would endanger the valley's economic base.

"Imperial County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state," Zimmerman said, noting seasonal employment to work farm fields.

Friday night Imperial officials offered their own plan, a five-year proposal to reduce Colorado River water use.

But officials in Las Vegas Sunday said San Diego County had rejected the latest offer, saying there were few changes other than a shorter period of time. California water officials disappeared behind closed doors Sunday.

"Those who know aren't talking," Rita Schmidt Sudman of the Water Education Foundation said about the touchy negotiations. "There's time until Dec. 31."