Wilson Signs Bill in Bid to End Water War

Gov. Pete Wilson has signed a bill aimed at breaking the impasse between San Diego and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California over a controversial, high-stakes plan to bring Imperial Valley water to San Diego.

The bill (SB 1082) by Sen. David Kelley (R-Idyllwild) calls for David Kennedy, director of the state Department of Water Resources, to broker a deal between the two warring water agencies. If Kennedy fails, the next step probably would be additional legislation, Kelley said Monday after the governor signed the bill.

Kelley, who represents portions of Imperial, Riverside and San Diego counties, said he hopes his bill, signed Sunday without comment by Wilson, will persuade Metropolitan to be more amenable to a deal with San Diego.

“The methodology of Metropolitan has been that they aren’t going to move at this time,” Kelley said. “Maybe the [governor’s] signature will cause them to rethink that strategy.”

At issue is how much money Metropolitan, water wholesaler to 16 million people in six Southern California counties, will charge the San Diego County Water Authority for transporting water through its 242-mile Colorado River Aqueduct. Such a charge is called a wheeling-rate.

San Diego would like to buy up to 200,000 acre-feet per year from the Imperial Irrigation District. The irrigation district has more water than it needs and would like to sell water to San Diego but the deal cannot happen unless San Diego gets the use of the aqueduct.

Kennedy, a gubernatorial appointee, has been attempting a kind of “shuttle diplomacy” between Metropolitan and San Diego. The level of animosity between the two agencies is so high that face-to-face negotiations are not seen as fruitful.

Bob Muir, a spokesman for Metropolitan, noted that the mega-agency supported the bill and that it “mirrors the process already underway” of Kennedy’s effort to get the two sides to reach an agreement.

Chris Frahm, chairwoman of the San Diego County Water Authority, said Wilson’s action shows that the governor “recognizes the proposed deal will benefit not just our agencies but the entire state by helping it live with its water means.”

The Legislature has been increasingly restive that San Diego and Metropolitan reach a deal on the transfer of Imperial Valley water to San Diego.

*

Such transfers are encouraged by state law. Also, U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has warned that California may soon have its usage of Colorado River water curtailed. If so, the pressure to transfer water from water-rich agricultural agencies to thirsty urban users will increase.

At the state Senate’s Water and Agriculture Committee hearing last spring, committee Chairman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) warned both sides to reach a deal or be prepared to have the Legislature impose one.

The clash between San Diego and Metropolitan highlights conflicting views of how best for Southern California to ensure a reliable water supply in coming decades, particularly with imminent cutback in the state’s draw from the Colorado River. Each side charges that the other is wrongheaded and could endanger the region’s water supply.

San Diego says Metropolitan, by demanding an exorbitant price for using the aqueduct, is trying to thwart the transfer.

Metropolitan retorts that San Diego, by insisting on the lowest price possible, wants to shift the cost of maintaining the region’s intricate delivery system to other water agencies and could risk ruining the regional approach to water that has served the area well.

2 Along with Kennedy’s mediation efforts, the two sides also face a court hearing in San Francisco Superior Court in November on Metropolitan’s lawsuit seeking validation of its wheeling-rate formula. San Diego and Imperial irrigation districts oppose Metropolitan’s contentions.

Regardless of what happens next--a court ruling, additional legislation or a settlement--the chances for additional litigation by one of the two main parties, or any of several smaller agencies, is significant, which would delay, if not kill, the transfer.

“I tell my grandkids to get into the water law business, you’ve got a job for life,” Kelley said. “It’s unbelievable.”