At long last, water: First drops due soon from Imperial Valley transfer

By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer | Saturday, December 6, 2003 10:03 PM PST ∞

Any day now, people across San Diego County will be able to pour themselves a big glass of history.

That's because the first drops of water from the county's pioneering water deal are finally expected to start trickling out of local faucets ---- nearly a decade after San Diego County water officials first proposed buying billions of gallons of water from Imperial Valley farmers.

"It's not moving now, but it could in a matter of days, or a week," San Diego County Water Authority spokesman Dennis Cushman said Wednesday.

"It is a historic moment in the history of Western water."

The deal is historic for several reasons, water officials say.

Secure at last

First and foremost, Water Authority leaders say, the deal gives water-poor San Diego County security for the first time in its history by breaking the region's singular reliance upon the Metropolitan Water District ---- Southern California's main supplier.

The deal also is the largest shift of water from agricultural use to urban use in U.S. history.

And, it's the linchpin of a historic California promise to six other Western states that the Golden State will gradually cut its overuse of the Colorado River, in return for being allowed to take "surpluses" from the river for the next 12 years.

Finally, the deal helps pave the way to "save" California's largest lake, Imperial Valley's Salton Sea.

Slow but sure

Under the terms of the transfer, Imperial Valley farmers plan to sell up to 200,000 acre-feet of water a year to San Diego County residents for about $50 million a year. An acre-foot is enough water to sustain the household needs of eight people for one year. At its zenith, the transfer's water will provide nearly one-quarter of the county's annual water needs.

The transfer deal ramps up slowly, reaching the 200,000 acre-feet plateau by 2022, runs for 45 years and can be extended to 75 years.

By shifting the water from farming to urban use, the transfer will reduce California's overall take from the Colorado River.

Meanwhile, as a condition of the transfer, the Irrigation District ---- which owns 70 percent of California's yearly share of the Colorado River ---- has agreed to sell additional water cheaply to the state. The state plans to sell the water at a slightly higher price, and use the $300 million in profit to come up with environmental help for the Salton Sea, which is becoming too salty to support life.

The breakdown

The starting price San Diego County must pay for the water is $508 per acre-foot ---- $258 per acre-foot for the water itself, and $250 per-acre foot to ship it to county residents through Metropolitan pipelines.

When the Water Authority conceived the transfer deal in 1995, it said the Imperial Valley water would be cheaper than buying from Metropolitan. That won't be the case. Metropolitan's current charge for water is about $407 per acre-foot, and the transfer's $508 per acre-foot cost will increase during the length of the contract.

But Water Authority officials say the transfer is still a good deal because of the independence and security it provides San Diego County.

Last week, Cushman said water and federal Bureau of Reclamation officials were still completing the final bits of paperwork on the transfer to let the Irrigation District sell the county the first batch of water.

Deadline approaches

The transfer contract calls for the Irrigation District to deliver 10,000 acre-feet of water ---- enough to sustain 20,000 households for a year ---- by the end of 2003, just three weeks from now.

Cushman said San Diego County residents normally use that much water in about a week, which means both sides still have plenty of time to move the water.

However, the Irrigation District wasn't exactly sure it would have the water to sell just a few short weeks ago, spokeswoman Sue Giller said last week.

Giller said in order to come up with the water quickly, the Irrigation District voted to implement an emergency program of letting land lie fallow, meaning farmers would have to "create" the water by taking farmland out of production.

Fallow thinking

Such a thought ---- letting land lie fallow ---- has been a very controversial issue in Imperial Valley. Farmers always planned to come up with the water for the transfer by improving "wasteful" on-farm irrigation systems.

Many in Imperial Valley said that letting land lie fallow could wreck the already-poor, farming-based economy, and demands in 2002 that some land must be allowed to lie fallow in the transfer's first 15 years nearly killed the deal.

Farmers eventually agreed to a limited program.

But Giller said as the Irrigation District's Nov. 14 deadline approached last month, few farmers stepped forward to take part in the emergency plan.

However, she said, "The fax machines were going like crazy," at the deadline, as about 100 farmers stepped forward to come up with the 10,000 acre-feet.

Possible glitches

Now, the transfer finally appears to be a done deal. After nine years of often bitter negotiations, collapse, and renegotiation, the transfer has been blessed by federal and state agencies, environmental groups, and the four heavyweight Southern California water agencies needed to make it happen: the Water Authority, Irrigation District, Metropolitan and the Coachella Valley Water District.

But there could still be hurdles to clear. Lawsuits abound.

The Imperial County Board of Supervisors has filed suit, saying that the transfer wasn't properly reviewed under the California Environmental Quality Act. And the Imperial Group, a band of Imperial Valley farmers, has filed a number of suits.

Founder Mike Morgan said the Imperial Group believes the Irrigation District had no right to enter into the transfer deal on behalf of farmers. The farmers themselves, the group says, should have had a direct say in the terms of the deal, including how much money the water should be worth.

They're confident

Imperial Valley's water belongs to its landowners, but the Irrigation District is the trustee that manages the water's rights.

But Cushman said Water Authority leaders, who have doggedly pursued the transfer for nine years, believe the transfer is assured.

"We have confidence that once the water starts to flow, it will continue to do so for many generations," he said last week.

Meanwhile, Cushman said despite all the time and effort Water Authority leaders put into making the transfer happen, there won't be any excessive celebrations when the water finally starts to flow.

"I think everyone will have a collective smile on their faces, and a sense of immense satisfaction, and pride in the fact that San Diego is moving its first independent supply of water into the county," he said.

Contact Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.