Shipments From Northern California : Measure to End Water Rift in Jeopardy

A decades-long intrastate controversy over water is endangering a bill in Congress that would settle a longstanding dispute between North County Indian bands and the Vista and Escondido water districts over access to local water sources.

Hearings are scheduled in Washington next month on a bill that would allow the pumping of Northern California water to San Diego County as part of the complex agreement reached by water district officials with five local Indian bands. Testimony on the measure, which was introduced by Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), will be heard Sept. 9 by the House subcommittee on water and power resources.

Packard’s bill calls for 22,700 acre-feet of surplus federal water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to be shipped annually to San Diego County--a fact that is not lost on the four Central and Northern California congressmen who sit on the committee, including Chairman George Miller (D-Martinez). (An acre-foot of water is 326,000 gallons.)

Importing the federal water is a key component of the agreement, and it is needed to serve the growing needs of the Indians and the cities of Escondido and Vista, attorneys say.

But importing the water for the water districts and the La Jolla, San Pasqual, Rincon, Pala and Pauma Indian bands could become a volatile intrastate political issue, muddying the compromise and threatening the passage of the bill.

The four congressmen--Miller, Tony Coelho (D-Merced), Richard Lehman (D-Sanger) and Charles Pashayan (R-Fresno)--have expressed concerns about setting a precedent by shipping federal water from Northern California to Southern California, and their spokesmen say the bill’s chances of passing the subcommittee are slim at best. Currently, only state water is shipped south via the California Aqueduct.

Nancy Mason, Packard’s administrative assistant, acknowledged that the bill’s fate is anything but certain.

“I think it’s going to be close. Getting it out of the subcommittee is definitely the biggest hurdle. . . . We’re not just trying to send water from Northern California to Southern California, but we’re trying to resolve longstanding Indian claims (to local water sources),” said Mason.

Attorneys for the Indians, the Escondido Mutual Water Co. and the Vista Irrigation District hailed the agreement as the solution to a 17-year-old legal dispute over water from the San Luis Rey River, Wohlford and Henshaw lakes, and a water-well field near Warner Ranch.

According to Kent Foster, attorney for the Vista Irrigation District, the agreement calls for the two districts and five Indian bands to “split by 50-50 water from the San Luis Rey River.”

Foster said the agreement also allows the five bands to store water in Lake Henshaw and use of the Escondido Canal, which originates on the La Jolla Reservation, to distribute water to all five reservations.

The Indians currently receive about 2,500 acre-feet of water per year, but the agreement guarantees them as much as 7,000 acre-feet a year for irrigating citrus and avocado groves, Foster said.

“But the settlement is structured so the water can be used for whatever they want,” he said. “And any water they don’t use they will be able to sell to Escondido and Vista.”

But Robert Pelcyger, a Boulder, Colo., attorney representing the Indian bands, said the agreement will go by the wayside unless the federal government agrees to make available the extra water from Northern California.

“In order for this settlement to be finalized, the federal government will have to deliver more water from the Central Valley Project. The extra water is needed to serve the expanding needs of the Indians and the cities of Vista and Escondido. . . .

“The federal government created the reservations by the river and then took the water away. They created this problem and they have an obligation to help solve it.”

Although spokesmen for the Northern California congressmen say that 22,700 acre-feet of water is a “drop in the bucket” when compared to the millions of acre-feet of water developed annually by the federal Central Valley Project, they say the congressmen are still concerned that even this little amount would threaten development projects in their districts.

Larry Adams, Pashayan’s executive assistant, said that his office has heard considerable opposition to the bill from constituents. Pashayan has not taken a position on the bill, but he has “strong concerns” about shipping Delta water to the south, Adams said.

“Our constituency opposes this bill. Although the federal government still has an obligation to help the Indians and this bill would resolve the Indians’ water problem in San Diego County, the CVP water is only intended for the Central Valley,” he said.

Lehman shares Pashayan’s reservations about the measure, said aide Scott Nishioki.

“Any time you start moving Northern California water to Southern California, especially CVP water, it could be precedent-setting. And the congressman has some strong concerns about this,” Lehman said.

Lehman, Coelho and Pashayan represent large agricultural constituencies. A subcommittee spokesman who requested anonymity said that Miller “has some problems with the bill” but agreed to hold the hearings because of the bipartisan support that the bill enjoys in the Senate, where it was jointly introduced by Sens. Alan Cranston, a Democrat, and Pete Wilson, a Republican.

But even if Packard’s bill is approved by Congress, there are still other hurdles to overcome, Foster said.

If Congress agrees to make the extra water available, local water officials still have to negotiate with state water officials and officials from the Metropolitan Water District and San Diego County Water Authority to transport the water to North County.

Supposing that all this is accomplished, supporters of the compromise are banking heavily on the cost of the federal water, which they plan to buy at a rate of $100 per acre-foot and turn around and sell at $200 per acre-foot.

“After all these steps, one thing we would still have to do is see if the settlement still works,” Foster said. “If the price turns out to be higher, we may be stuck with an inoperable agreement and we’ll probably have to renegotiate it.”