Farmers Win Vote on State Water Supplies

In a major victory for farmers, a Senate panel dropped an ambitious plan Thursday to shift federal water supplies from California agriculture to wildlife conservation.

But Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), who wants to reallocate water from California’s massive Central Valley Project, said he and other lawmakers hope to change the bill when a final version is written by a House-Senate conference committee.

“(This bill) abandons fishermen for farmers, the environment for subsidized crops. It protects one group of water users at the expense of the rest of the state,” Bradley said during the Senate Energy Committee meeting.

The plan passed by the panel adopted modest changes in water policy. Its sponsor, Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.), called it the most equitable way to share scarce water supplies as California suffers through a sixth year of drought.

“What it represents is the best of the views we can get from California. It’s not perfect, but they (state interests) are the ones who put the bill together,” Seymour said.

The legislation approved by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee authorizes new U.S. water projects while setting tighter environmental guidelines for such projects.

Its most contentious provision was a proposal by Bradley and panel chairman, Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), to take from farmers up to 20% of water from the Cental Valley Project--a 500-mile system of reservoirs and canals--to restore endangered fish runs and waterfowl habitats.

Under the proposal, California growers, who have been criticized for taking about 85% of the state’s water while contributing only 10% of its wealth, could have sold surplus Central Valley Project irrigation water to cities.

The project supplies about 20% of the state’s water.

The Seymour plan does not allow water transfers and lets the project continue writing 40-year contracts to sell low-cost water to California farmers. Bradley and Johnston wanted to shorten the contracts and set environmental criteria.