Water: Up for Grabs?

The match seems to be a natural. Under pressure from the state to save water, the Imperial Irrigation District needs to launch a costly conservation program, but does not have the $450 million needed to finance it. Faced with the loss of some of its Colorado River water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California needs new supplies. The solution seems simple: Metropolitan pays for Imperial’s conservation program, and Imperial allows the Met to use the water saved--as much as 300,000 acre-feet for a period of 40 years.

That amount would increase the Met’s long-term future Colorado River supply by roughly 50%, and would buy the district time until more water can be brought in from Northern California. The logical solution, from the Met’s standpoint, has been to deal directly with the Imperial Valley district.

But on Tuesday Imperial’s board of directors decided on a less-direct course. The board initiated negotiations with a third party--a large engineering firm, the Parsons Corp.--over the design and construction of the conservation program. In addition, Parsons would advise Imperial on how to dispose of the water supply to its best advantage, whether to the Met or someone else.

This comes close to the notion that water can be brokered on an open market like wheat or oil. Metropolitan has claimed that it would be illegal under both state and federal law for Imperial to “sell” its water to anyone. In the Met view that would violate half a century of law, court decisions and contracts that make up the Colorado’s “Law of the River.”

As the largest water user on the Colorado, and one of the oldest, Imperial knows all about the Law of the River. But instinct and fear, along with the possible allure of cutting a better deal, figure in Imperial’s thinking, too. The district may need the water back some day, and some Imperial officials would feel more secure in contracting it through a third party than directly with the Met--the powerful symbol of the sprawling Southern California megalopolis.

“We want to see the people on the coast get the water they need,” Imperial Board President William R. Condit said the other day. “But our people look at L.A. and what do they see? The Owens Valley. They’re afraid. After Metropolitan’s had that water 40 years, they’re not going to give it up without one helluva battle. What chance do 100,000 people have against several million?”

Condit added that the Met has been “very arbitrary in dealing with us. They want to run it their way.” Met officials, indeed, have been adamant that Imperial could divert the water only to them, since Metropolitan is next in line after Imperial in Colorado River priority.

The two parties’ long-distance exchanges demonstrate that sometimes words and water don’t mix any better than water and oil. Metropolitan and Imperial officials plan to meet today to discuss the potential swap. We hope that each can dispel the other’s fears, and that the two parties can agree in principle on an exchange that will benefit all.