Water: a New Era

Thrown together by necessity, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Imperial Irrigation District in the Colorado Desert are on the threshold of a historic water-transfer agreement. If concluded as expected this fall, the pact will link for 35 years the water fortunes of the two giant districts: Metropolitan, serving mostly city people, and Imperial, the largest agricultural irrigation district in California.

Imperial has been under pressure from the state Water Resources Control Board to save a good portion of its 2.6 million acre-feet of Colorado River water a year through prevention of canal leakage and other losses. Metropolitan, thwarted for now in getting more water from Northern California, is seeking new supplies wherever possible to serve expected growth, particularly in the Riverside-San Bernardino area and in San Diego.

The deal is this: Metropolitan gives Imperial $10 million a year to build conservation facilities, such as the lining of its canals. In return Imperial allows Metropolitan to use the 100,000 acre-feet of water a year to be saved in this first phase of the conservation program. Metropolitan would divert the water at its Colorado River Aqueduct upriver from Imperial’s own All-American Canal.

It sounds simple, but the negotiations have been long and tricky, and have had to skirt some complicated legal problems. The Metropolitan board ratified the proposed memorandum of understanding recently. The Imperial board stopped short of full approval, instead sending the proposal to its members for discussion during a series of public hearings. This is understandable. No farmer or rancher wants to give up a firm water supply, even if it currently is being wasted, without being precisely certain what he will get in return. In particular, rural Californians are leery about trusting any of their water to city folk without guarantees that they can get it back in the future if needed.

The agreement struck by the Met and Imperial negotiators seems fair to both sides. Imperial has a higher-priority claim on Colorado River water than does Metropolitan, and should not fear for its future supplies--even after Arizona begins taking its full share of the Colorado later this decade. Construction of the conservation facilities would get Imperial off the hook with the state water resources board.

As for MWD, the transfer along with other conservation and water-storage actions will guard against possible future shortages during the early years of full operation of the Central Arizona Project. The cost to MWD will be far less than the development of an entirely new supply.

Both sides should be commended for their efforts and urged to consummate the deal. As mutual trust develops, it may lead to further negotiations for more potential water savings in the Imperial Valley for use in urban Southern California. Credit also should go to the Environmental Defense Fund and to its Northern California general counsel, Thomas J. Graff. Graff and EDF have done extensive studies on the benefits of such a water exchange, and have prodded Metropolitan for some years to explore this option.

Physically, only a few miles separate MWD’s tap on the Colorado from Imperial’s. In the world of water psychology, however, the agreement would stretch from one era into the next.