Guess Who’s at the End of This Straw?

A while back, we discussed in this space the upcoming war between the cities and the farmers in California. This struggle is arising from the unequal distribution of water. The farmers have it, and the cities want it. So there will be a contest to see if the cities can slice off some of the farmers’ share.

We predicted that the cities would win this war. That’s because, in a drought, broccoli cannot compete with people. Congress and the state Legislature will choose people every time.

Truth to tell, this prediction was made with some smug satisfaction. California farmers have sucked overly long at the public teat, and many have grown wealthy from cheap water delivered at taxpayer expense. A little sharing on their part wouldn’t hurt.

But hold on. We failed to ask, at the time, just who would benefit from this victory by the cities. Did we assume it would be us, that the defeat of the farmers would translate directly into longer showers?

Well, maybe we should think again. Last week, out here in the desert, something closer to the real truth was revealed. A certain kind of deal went down, and it demonstrated just who the real winners will be in the war with the farmers. A hint: It ain’t you and it ain’t me.

The deal begins with a stretch of raw land in western Palmdale. Ugly stuff, this land. It meanders over a series of stubby hills, the only occupants a bunch of thick-headed jack rabbits with a talent for getting themselves squashed flat on the local highway.

And very dry, this place. So dry that a scratchy gust of wind seems like it would strike a match in your hand. There’s no water here, not even well water.

Nonetheless, this stretch has attracted the attention of Kaufman & Broad, the builders of new civilizations in the desert. Kaufman & Broad want this place transformed into “City Ranch,” an oasis of 2,000 new houses with green lawns. Plus some swimming pools. Plus a golf course.

The problem--you could see this coming--was water. Kaufman & Broad first proposed to drill wells some miles away in the flatlands of Palmdale. Unlike the hills of City Ranch, the flatlands have water.

But the Palmdale Water District was having none of it. Palmdale is a boom town, as you know, and over the last decade the city has quadrupled in size. The existing customers already are pulling more water from the basin than gets restored. Each year, Palmdale’s water table falls 6 to 10 feet.

So Kaufman & Broad gave up on the wells and looked elsewhere. Practically speaking, the only elsewhere available was a blue ribbon of water running along the west side of town: the California Aqueduct. This is the same aqueduct that feeds the farmers of the San Joaquin Valley and every large city in Southern California. The same aqueduct that, more or less, now runs on empty.

Kaufman & Broad proposed, in effect, that they be allowed to stick their straw into the aqueduct as it flowed south. Moreover, the company suggested that its straw be large enough to accommodate not just City Ranch but future developments as well.

The notion of connecting what is essentially a new town to an aqueduct that cannot supply its present customers may seem dubious to you. It seems dubious to me. But in Southern California we have always built first and worried about the details later. In any case, City Ranch got the contract for aqueduct water.

That left only Los Angeles County, which must deliver the water to City Ranch. Last Tuesday, the question came before the Board of Supervisors. A few blocks away, officials were announcing that supplies from the aqueduct were running so low that all cities in the south would have deliveries cut by 31%.

Maybe the supervisors were aware of this irony, maybe not. In any case, when the City Ranch item came to a vote, they approved it unanimously. There was no debate.

All right, that was the deal that went down in the desert. Multiply City Ranch by a hundred and you have some idea of how much demand is getting connected to the system each year. Where, do you think, will we get the water to feed City Ranch and all its clones?

Answer: the farmers.

Maybe not this year because the farmers already are being cranked down close to zero. But in the future, if we ever get back to “normal,” the water that once went to crops such as alfalfa and rice will be turned over to the City Ranches.

And that leads to the last and most important question of all: Which do we really want, alfalfa farmers or several dozen City Ranches?

You decide. As for me, the guys in the John Deere hats look better all the time.