California board won’t back river sharing deal

Wednesday, May 14, 2003 | 9:26 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

LOS ANGELES -- The board of Southern California's largest urban water wholesaler said it was withholding its support of the latest version of a deal aimed at sharing the waters of the Colorado River.

At a meeting Monday, members of the Metropolitan Water District of California board outlined their concerns with the deal it had previously agreed upon, along with three other Southern California water agencies. The board directed its staff to research the issues and report back by the end of the month.

"We are not happy the way it is," board Chairman Phillip Pace said. "I guess we want something else."

The move provoked cries of consternation from government officials from Sacramento to Las Vegas. The deal, dubbed the Quantification Settlement Agreement or QSA, is crucial for resuming so-called "surplus" use of water from Lake Mead for both Southern California and Southern Nevada.

Before the U.S. Interior Department abruptly cut off the surplus Jan. 1, Las Vegas consumers could take more than 30,000 acre-feet of water above its basic allotment from Lake Mead -- enough water for perhaps 150,000 people. Local water officials had hoped to use the surplus to soften effects of a four-year drought and give Las Vegas agencies time to develop new water sources for the growing population.

Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy sharply criticized the Metropolitan board for its action Monday.

"I don't think the member agencies of Metropolitan appreciate how important the QSA is," Mulroy said.

California state officials, who have negotiated for weeks to reach the latest agreement after the collapse of an earlier arrangement late last year, were furious at the announcement by Metropolitan's board.

"This administration would not look kindly on any last-minute shenanigans by Metropolitan to derail this process," Byron Tucker, a spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis, said.

But Metropolitan spokesmen said their board is not necessarily trying to scuttle the water deal. Adan Ortega, Metropolitan vice president, said the board needed more information before it could decide whether to stay with the QSA or pull out entirely.

"What the Metropolitan board is doing is asking the question first," Ortega said. "They'll sign when they feel comfortable with the facts before them.

"The board is evaluating the risks involved with going forward with the QSA," he added. "It also is evaluating the risks of not going forward."

Ortega said outstanding issues include the fate of the threatened Salton Sea, perchlorate contamination in Lake Mead and the drought, which within a few years could mean the loss of any surplus in any case.

Ortega said stronger California state water standards for perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient suspected of causing health problems, might mean Southern California's agencies would have to cut back dependence on water from the lake anyway.

Board members said they have problems with spending $200 million in Proposition 50 money to further a centerpiece of the deal -- the transfer of up to 200,000 acre-feet of water a year from Imperial Valley farms to San Diego.

The board's announcement is the latest holdup in efforts to share the Colorado River. A previous agreement reached by the agencies failed just before the new year when the four water agencies failed to sign an earlier version of the deal.

In response to the deal's collapse, Interior Secretary Gale Norton cut California's river allotment by 600,000 acre-feet, enough water for 1.2 million people.

Dennis Cushman, a spokesman for the San Diego County Water Authority, said his agency was dumbfounded by the board's reaction, which could leave urban Southern California without a crucial water supply.

"This would leave Southern California at risk of a total catastrophe," he said.

Mulroy agreed. She said Southern California's 20 million water users could "make it one year, maybe two on the outside" without the QSA and the surplus.

"I am still convinced that at the end of the day they are going to realize how bad a shape they are in."