U.S. Settles Westlands’ Bitter Fight Over Water

In a controversial settlement of a longstanding and bitter dispute over federal water deliveries to California agriculture, the Reagan Administration announced Thursday that the federal government will guarantee delivery of cheap water to farmers in the state’s powerful Westlands Water District for the next 22 years.

The settlement is considered a victory for Westlands, the largest and one of the most heavily subsidized irrigation districts in the Western United States. Resolving a 1981 lawsuit by Westlands and two decades of squabbling over water, the settlement ensures that hundreds of Central Valley growers will have a steady supply of subsidized water at a price that has not changed since it was set in a 1963 contract with the federal government.

Longstanding Disputes

“What it does do is bring certainty, with respect to the litigation, that we’ll continue to have water delivered,” said Dave Houston, Pacific regional director for the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation. “It resolves all the longstanding disputes between us.”

The government in 1981 threatened to cut off water to parts of the valley unless the district paid prices that reflected government costs. Federal officials charged that the Westlands improperly annexed about 156,000 acres beyond the 500,000-acre service area authorized by Congress, and the government demanded higher rates. The matter has been in litigation since.

The 1963 federal contract set the price of an acre-foot of water at about $8, with no inflation factor. The federal government estimates that it spends $16.40 to provide an acre-foot of water, which covers one acre of land at a one-foot depth.

However, when interest charges on reclamation construction are added, the federal government cost jumps to $42 an acre-foot, the amount charged to municipal and industrial users in the district.

‘Greatly Relieved’

The settlement guarantees delivery of 900,000 acre-feet of water at the $8 price and gives the district an additional 350,000 acre-feet of water at prices closer to federal costs. In addition, the district must begin paying up to $100 million into a trust to finance any future drain system for the valley.

“I feel greatly relieved by getting to this plateau,” said Jerald Butchert, general manger of the Westlands Water District. “It brings about 22 years of peace and tranquility and stability and settles issues that have been out there for 20 or 25 years.”

The irrigation water, snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada, flows into rivers and the Sacramento Delta, and is pumped by the federal government to the San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos. From there it is transported by canal to the district.

California Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), chairman of the House Interior subcommittee on water resources, angrily denounced the settlement for “circumventing the Congress, the public interest and the reclamation law.”

Mounting Pollution Predicted

Miller predicted that California power users and other water districts may wind up paying for the deal, and warned that drainage problems that already have severely polluted a wildlife refuge in the valley will mount as a result of the agreement.

“This is just pouring gasoline on the fire,” he said of the drainage problems.

The congressman accused Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel of keeping company with “special interests” and reneging on a commitment to show him any settlement before agreeing to one.

“He lied to me, but I’m not the first member of Congress he’s lied to--so what the hell,” Miller said.

Hodel could not be reached for comment.

Mitch Snow, an Interior Department spokesman, said he was unaware of any commitment by Hodel to allow Miller to review the final settlement before authorizing it.

Congress has 30 days to review the agreeement before it goes to federal district court.

‘20-Year Exemption’

Hamilton Candee, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, called the settlement “an obvious attempt to avoid the Reclamation Reform Act and to give the wealthy growers in the Westlands a special 20-year exemption” from the law.

The 1982 act required that any district that amended its contract to receive additional benefits must pay higher prices. “This agreement allows the Westlands to get additional new benefits but without having to pay a higher price for the first 900,000 acre feet of water,” Candee said.

The settlement ensures water payments to the federal government of $1.993 billion until the year 2007. Interior officials said they settled to bring stability to the water market. “Obviously they are the biggest customer we’ve got,” Snow said.