Stronger U.S. Action Urged to Save Water : Drought: A federal agency is accused of failing to promote conservation among the state’s farmers. A restraint on population growth is being studied.

Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) Tuesday accused the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation of failing to promote water conservation and suggested that California insist on water-saving measures from farmers who benefit from the federally owned Central Valley Project.

At the same hearing, California officials said they are considering whether to restrain the state’s booming population to make sure there is enough water to go around in the future.

“Unless we have a long-term plan in California to deal with the growth that’s coming, then we’re headed for disaster over and over again,” Rep. Richard H. Lehman (D-Sanger) told the House Interior and Insular Affairs subcommittee.

In another development, state Department of Water Resources Director David Kennedy told the subcommittee that the state may offer rice farmers $450 an acre-foot to withdraw land from cultivation in return for giving up rights to irrigation water for a year. That water then would be sold to others for a set price.

“We’re going to try to run a regulated market,” Kennedy said.

Miller’s demands for stronger federal action to conserve scarce water supplies was the dominant theme at the hearing.

“We need to question whether we can afford to make water available at highly subsidized prices to grow low-value crops on marginal land,” Miller said. “We need to question whether we should require the best management practices by recipients of federal water subsidies.”

Noting that federal authorities cut back water deliveries to California farmers for the first time in 1990, Miller asked Dennis Underwood, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation: “Where were we in the early years of the drought--’87, ‘88, ‘89? Why didn’t you build reserves?”

Later, Miller said that the bureau may be acting in a “socially irresponsible” way by not requiring farmers to take more effective conservation measures and added: “Your long-term goals aren’t worth spit today. We have a short-term problem.”

Officials of the Bureau of Reclamation, Miller said, had not acted because they do not want to offend a single farmer.

He added: “They don’t give a damn about conservation.”

Underwood said that his agency has been demanding better management of water resources and said that it is cooperating with California.

“How much water was saved in water conservation plans of the last four years?” Miller barked. Chastened, Underwood replied: “I don’t know. I can’t tell you offhand.”

Meanwhile, David Wheeler, secretary of the California Resources Agency, said that there are 7 million more people in the state now than there were at the time of the last major drought in 1976-77.

“We’re very close to the point where we’ll have to ask about population growth and development to bring water supply into balance with demand,” Wheeler said.

Lehman told Wheeler that state and local governments would have to consider such unpopular measures as a cutoff in building permits and other measures.

Without assurances that California is doing all it can to help itself, Miller cautioned, Congress may not be willing to provide several billion dollars in disaster aid to cover crop losses from the winter freeze and the fifth year of the drought.

Miller’s comments take on added weight because he is acting chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee as well as chairman of its subcommittee on water, power and offshore energy resources.

“This (sub)committee is investigating the need for comprehensive legislation to reform the management of water of California, emphasizing efficiency and conservation, and acknowledging the economic, demographic and environmental reality of California in the late 20th Century,” Miller said in an opening statement.

Surprisingly, the liberal Miller gave high praise to Gov. Pete Wilson for showing leadership in the drought crisis, even as he upbraided Underwood for federal water management policies in recent years.

Afterward, Miller said that the state government might have to intervene in water contracts between the federal government and California farmers to get more stringent conservation measures written into the agreements.