Bill Seeks More Water for Urban Uses

Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would authorize more water for urban and industrial users from California’s Central Valley Project, while providing smaller amounts for irrigation.

The bill also would set up a special fund for fish and wildlife. And it would create a federal-state commission to consider whether ownership of the giant project should be transferred from the U.S. government to California sometime after 1994.

The project, which supplies about 20% of the state’s water, allocates about 90% to growers in the Central Valley. The rest goes to Bay Area cities and other consumers.

“With California coping with a fifth straight year of drought, it is more critical than ever that we make fundamental changes in the way we allocate our scarce water supplies among agriculture, urban, fish and wildlife and other interests,” said Sen Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), co-sponsor of the bill.

Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.), who is working on his own drought relief legislation, is reported to have concerns about the Bradley bill. A spokesman for Seymour said he believes that the Senate should work first on direct drought aid rather than taking the time to consider long-term, complex issues such as reallocation.

In a Senate speech sharply critical of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for its management of the Central Valley Project, Bradley said: “California faces enough difficulties in solving its water crisis without the impediments of a stubborn federal agency beholden to special interests.

“With every sector of California’s water community working together, we can not only get through this drought, we can prepare to meet California’s future water needs in a way that protects the environment and recognizes the claims of all of California’s people for adequate supplies of water.”

Bradley’s bill--with its requirement for cutbacks in water for irrigation under long-term contracts--drew sharp criticism from Jason Peltier, general manager of the project’s Water Users Assn. in Sacramento.

“It’s too much of the Eastern view of what’s happening in California,” Peltier said. “A secure water supply is essential to farmers who are making improvements or getting bank loans so the (Bradley) bill is unnecessary, unfair and counterproductive.”

But Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), acting chairman of the House Interior Committee, termed the Bradley bill “a bold step at a critical time” and said he would work closely with him on water legislation.

The bill would give broad authority to the secretary of the interior to sell Central Valley Project water to cities, counties and industrial firms and to allocate greater amounts for environmental purposes, including wetlands and wildlife refuges.

Under one provision, water contracts could be renewed for 20-year terms only if the user agrees to give up 10% of his previous water supply, plus an additional 1% for each year beyond 10 years. If users do not want to accept such reductions, they would be able to negotiate one-year contracts for their normal allocations.

Another provision would allow the federal government to sell water for municipal and industrial purposes under 20-year contracts. Part of the revenues would be earmarked for a new fund to restore fish and wildlife in the project’s area. The fund also would receive $30 million a year from a surcharge on other water and power sales.

In another drought-related development, Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) introduced a bill to expand federal and private research to lower the cost of desalination. The bill would authorize spending of $90 million over the next three years.

“Soon, the people of Illinois and other states will be paying more for groceries because of California’s drought,” Simon said. “The irony is California has hundreds of miles of coast and huge potential sources of water just offshore.”

Simon lined up 12 co-sponsors for the measure. “After decades of inaction, I believe we’re about to start moving again” on desalination research, he said. “Lack of fresh water is increasingly a brake on economic development here and abroad.”