Babbitt Predicts Truce in Feud That Has Barred San Diego Water Deal

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, in a speech Tuesday to a meeting of Western water officials in Colorado, expressed optimism that the angry dispute that has prevented large-scale water sales between the Imperial Valley and San Diego may soon be resolved.

“We are now within closing distance of this, the largest water transfer in Western history,” Babbitt told a gathering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “And when it is accomplished, it should put to rest the skeptics’ claim that water transfers are unworkable.”

Last December, Babbitt said he wanted the deal consummated by mid-June. But within weeks, that deadline seemed virtually unattainable when the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California balked at the use of its Colorado Aqueduct.

David Hayes, acting deputy Interior secretary, and Tom Hannigan, state water director, have tried to cobble together an agreement between the MWD, the San Diego County Water Authority and two desert water agencies that get the lion’s share of California’s allocation from the Colorado River: the Imperial Irrigation District and the Coachella Valley Water District.

In hopes of meeting Babbitt’s deadline, closed-door negotiations are planned for Friday, Saturday and Monday at MWD headquarters in Los Angeles.

Officials of the desert agencies say that one suggestion being floated by Hayes would provide additional water for the MWD in exchange for use of its aqueduct to bring part of the Imperial Valley’s share of the Colorado River to thirsty San Diego.

“There are still substantial issues yet to be resolved,” said Tom Levy, general manager of the Coachella district, when asked to comment on Babbitt’s optimism.

Babbitt’s speech also signaled his intent to use the final months of the Clinton administration to continue redirecting water toward environmental uses rather than increased residential growth and agricultural irrigation. “The big task of the coming century will be to restore rivers, wetlands and fisheries,” he said.

Still, possibly as an inducement to the MWD to accept the San Diego-Imperial transfer, Babbitt suggested that changes may be possible in the operation of Lake Mead, the huge reservoir behind Hoover Dam. The MWD has long advocated changes such as increased ground water storage.

While Babbitt praised the MWD for its successful efforts to reduce water consumption in its six-county region, he had words of criticism for other cities for not curbing water use.

“Many communities, including Reno, Sacramento and Fresno, still do not use water meters, thereby perpetuating the notion that water is so plentiful as to be virtually a free commodity,” Babbitt said.

In 1992, Fresno voters banned residential water meters. In Sacramento, residential water meters are not permitted under the City Charter.