An Unheeded Water Wake-Up

When Arizona launched a program earlier this year to store some of its unused Colorado River water supply underground in aquifers, that state’s water chief looked westward and declared, “This sends a very loud wake-up call to California.” Well, maybe not loud enough.

Every drop of water that goes into the ground in Arizona is water that previously went to help fill the canal that brings Colorado River water to coastal Southern California. Arizona’s message is that California can no longer tap the Colorado River at will and exceed its legal allocation with surplus water belonging to other Colorado River Basin states.

California is under a federal mandate to develop a long-range plan for living within its legal allocation of Colorado River water, 4.4 million acre-feet. That is nearly 20% less than it has become accustomed to in recent years. The big Southern California water agencies have not been able to agree on such a plan because they are too busy squabbling.

Their arguments involve, among other issues, a determination of how much water the giant Imperial Irrigation District actually needs for its crops and how much can be saved for diversion to water-needy cities. Imperial and the San Diego County Water Authority already have tentatively agreed on a conservation program that would send 200,000 acre-feet a year to San Diego for urban use. But San Diego and the Metropolitan Water District, which wholesales water throughout Southern California, are fighting over the cost of transporting the Imperial water to San Diego through the MWD’s Colorado Aqueduct. The water transfer would help California stay within its Colorado River allocation, and the deal needs to be settled.

The other six Colorado River Basin states are losing patience with California. The Interior Department is frustrated. The California Legislature is threatening to intervene. And the Wilson administration is rightly talking of jawboning the parties to reach agreement.

The other basin states long have complained about California’s free use of “their” water, fearing that they might not get their supplies back when they need them. This was not a problem so long as there was plenty of water to go around. Now, the days of abundance are dwindling.

There still will be years when California can draw on surplus Colorado River water. But Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, whose agency is setting the criteria, says California first has to have a “well-conceived strategy” to live within its own water means.

There is no specific deadline and California is not likely to suffer a cutoff or reduction right away, but the risk is there. The water agencies must settle their disputes quickly so the state can get on with the job of planning a secure water future for its citizens.