Cheap Power May Help Seal Indian Water Pact

A federal hydroelectric power agency will provide cheap power to pump surplus water from Northern California to Lake Henshaw, helping to ensure the settlement of a protracted water rights lawsuit between five Indian bands and two North County water districts, it was announced Friday.

The inability to find cheap electricity to economically bring the federal surplus water to North County had threatened to undermine a tentative settlement to the 17-year-old lawsuit.

Attorneys on both sides said that Friday’s news was a significant step towards the ultimate resolution of the water war.

The litigation has seemed largely esoteric to water customers in Escondido and within the Vista Irrigation District, but is of critical importance to the Pala, La Jolla, Rincon, San Pasqual and Pauma Indian bands, whose reservations are north and east of Escondido, near the headwaters of the San Luis Rey River.

The Indians had sought $40 million in damages and control of the 88-year-old Escondido Canal, which carries water from the San Luis Rey River near Lake Henshaw, across Indian land, to Lake Wohlford in Escondido. The Indians have contended that the water, which constitutes about half of Escondido’s and Vista’s annual supply--at a significant savings compared to the cost of purchasing water from the Metropolitan Water District--was stolen from them.

A tentative settlement of the lawsuit was announced in June. The terms called for:

- The Indians to keep half of the local water, and for the two non-Indian water agencies to split the other half.

- Vista and Escondido to maintain and operate the San Luis Rey water system, including a water well ranch, Lake Henshaw and the canal which carries the water to Wohlford.

- The Indians to receive 20,000 acre-feet of surplus federal water annually from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In turn, the Indians will turn over 30% of that water to Escondido and Vista, to compensate for Escondido and Vista maintaining and operating the existing canal and water well network.

But the cost of bringing that otherwise free water from Northern California to the Indians threatened to snag the deal. Following June’s tentative settlement, authorities realized it would cost more than $4 million a year to buy the electricity from the State of California to pump the water southward, and there was no realistic hope that the federal government would pick up the tab, which had been the expectation.

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), whose staff had been trying to negotiate a settlement, then met with Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel, who lobbied the Energy Department’s Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) to provide the electrical power necessary to pump the water south.

Clyde Romney, Packard’s chief aide, announced Friday that WAPA has agreed to provide hydroelectric power at a fraction of the cost quoted by the State of California. Instead of costing more than $4 million annually, WAPA’s power will be available for about $500,000 a year.

The Indians plan to use their share of water to irrigate farm lands after irrigation systems are constructed. Until then, the Indians can sell their share of the water to generate between $500,000 and $1 million to pay for construction of the irrigation system, Romney said.

Bob Pelcyger, an attorney who represents the five Indian bands, said he was pleased that the hurdle had been jumped, and now hopes that the Escondido and Vista districts will settle their own differences so that the settlement can be resolved.

The Escondido and Vista water agencies must agree on their roles in maintaining and operating the water delivery system from Lake Henshaw--agreements which were initially struck in 1912 but in recent years have begun to crumble.

“When the Indian litigation began in 1969, Escondido and Vista swept the problems between them under the rug so we could have a united front to the Indians,” said Ken Foster, an attorney for the Vista Irrigation District.

“Now, after spending 16 years working on the Indian issues, we can get back to our own problems,” he said.

After the Vista and Escondido agencies strike their own bargain on how to share the costs and income of the local water system, Packard will introduce legislation in Congress for federal approval of the out-of-court settlement between the water agencies and the Indian bands, Romney said.