December 11, 2002

California will lose some of its Colorado River water surplus as early as January, warned Department of Interior officials Tuesday, urging the Imperial Irrigation District to reverse its decision and agree to transfer some of its water to the San Diego County Water Authority.

As forewarned, Bennett Raley, DOI assistant secretary for water and science, said if the IID does not agree to a transfer by Dec. 31, the DOI will reduce the state's take immediately. For years, California has taken more than its allotted amount of water from the Colorado River. Under a seven-state agreement, California must reduce its take by 600,000 acre-feet to 800,000 acre-feet within the next 15 years. Officials consider the water transfer integral to reducing the state's take (Perry/Tempest, Los Angeles Times -- http://www.latimes.com ).

The IID rejected the water transfer on Monday, saying it would cause increased unemployment in the state's poorest county as farmers would be forced to fallow up to 7 percent of their land (Greenwire, Dec. 10 -- http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/Backissues/121102/121102gw.htm ).

"Unfortunately for California, unless (the district) changes it position, this decision will have very serious consequences for all of California," Raley said (James Sterngold, San Francisco Chronicle -- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/12/11/MN169830.DTL ).

University of California-Los Angeles professor emeritus Norris Hundley said a water transfer is necessary. "The train is on the track," he said. "There is going to be a lot of hassling and litigation, but it is inevitable. The farmers have a lot of the water, but the people who need it are in the growing cities" (Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News -- http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/4712394.htm ).

Nevada's pull from the Colorado could also be affected if California does not sign a water transfer agreement by the end of the year, said federal officials threatening to withhold Nevada's 300,000 acre-feet surplus. "With the drought, everyone's up against the wall," said Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. "And with the (IID) making that decision, they're leaving Nevada without the ability to overuse the river."

The proposed agreement would have allowed Nevada to continue taking surplus water from the river during the next 15 years, as long as snowmelt produced above-average flows (Juliet V. Casey, Las Vegas Review-Journal -- http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/Dec-11-Wed-2002/news/20251808.html

). (All cites Dec. 11 unless noted.) -- MV

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