Group Wants Water Projects Halted

Declaring that proposed restrictions on water exports from Northern California make it impractical to build reservoirs, a coalition of water agencies demanded Monday that the Wilson Administration halt its efforts to construct future water supply facilities.

The State Water Contractors, an association of agencies that are served by the State Water Project, urged Gov. Pete Wilson to stop “all planning, design and land acquisition activity” for the proposed Los Banos Grandes Reservoir, the Kern Water Bank and enlargement of the Clifton Court Forebay. The forebay is a holding pool for water that is being pumped to Central and Southern California.

All three projects are fundamental elements of the governor’s long-range plan for improving the reliability of California’s water supply. The two biggest projects--Los Banos and the Kern Water Bank--were designed to give the state more capacity to collect water during wet years and store it for use during droughts.

As customers of the State Water Project, the contractors are eventually required to pay the costs of new facilities and give their formal approval before revenue bonds can be issued.

“Essentially, what’s happening here is that the State Water Project contractors are reading the riot act to the Wilson Administration to put pressure on the state to relax the proposed standards,” said Patrick Porgans, a specialist in water regulation who has represented several Northern California water interests in state hearings and has pushed for more stringent environmental standards in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

George Baumli, general manager of the contractors association, said the group’s request to halt work on the projects was prompted by its concern that the two large facilities may “sit empty” because proposed environmental standards will restrict the amount of water that may be pumped out of the delta and shipped south.

“We just think it’s foolish to continue spending money hand over fist on storage facilities south of the delta when there is a question whether you will ever be able to put any water in these facilities,” said Baumli, whose association represents 27 of the project’s 29 contractors. So far, about $50 million has been spent on planning and land acquisition for the Kern Water Bank and $25 million on the Los Banos reservoir.

But at least one member of the contractor’s association--Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District--was not prepared to go as far as Baumli in criticizing the proposed standards. MWD officials said they agreed that no further funds should be spent on new facilities until there is some evidence that a more efficient way can be found to move water across the delta. But they were not ready to oppose the proposed standards.

Baumli said a proposal for interim delta standards released last month by the State Water Resources Control Board severely restricts the time of year and the amount of water that can be pumped from the delta for eventual delivery in Southern and Central California. The standards, which are expected to be formally approved on Jan. 25, were requested by Wilson to help restore endangered fish and wildlife.

Computer analysis by the state contractors, Baumli said, shows that the standards will reduce by half the amount of water that can be pumped into the San Luis Reservoir, the only existing storage facility immediately south of the delta. And “if we won’t be able to use existing facilities to their capabilities it makes no sense to spend money developing additional facilities,” he said.

Officials in the Wilson Administration reacted to the contractors’ objections by saying they would be given “due consideration.”