3 Feuding Water Agencies Reach Accord on Details of Landmark Pact

After three days of around-the-clock sessions, negotiators for Southern California’s major water agencies reached an apparent agreement Friday on key issues that have delayed approval of a landmark plan to help assure enough water for the next century.

The governing boards of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Imperial Irrigation District and the Coachella Valley Water District promptly scheduled meetings for Monday to consider the complex plan for divvying up Colorado River water and putting an end to the bickering, politicking and litigating that have marked the state’s long-running water wars.

“I think it’s something that’s good for everybody,” said Imperial board member Lloyd Allen. “These are agencies that have to protect their own interests, and it’s taken a long, long time for them to concede on some things so we can reach a deal.”

The same negotiators reached a tentative agreement in August, pending resolution of what were described then as a few technical issues.

But during follow-up negotiations, those issues--including such water arcana as dry-year allocations and protection against interagency lawsuits and bureaucratic sniping--proved difficult to resolve. Numerous sessions were held, including a weekend summit last month in Keystone, Colo.

Friday’s agreement was reached after mediation by acting Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes and California Department of Water Resources Director Thomas Hannigan and threats by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Gov. Gray Davis to impose a settlement on the three warring parties. Both the state and federal governments had set Friday as a deadline.

“It’s incredibly difficult to change the culture of the water world,” Hayes said. “But I think all the parties have realized there are new forces at work that require a fresh look at how they handle their water rights.”

To reach an agreement, each agency had to give up things it has long held dear: the MWD will no longer have exclusive use of its aqueduct, Imperial Valley farmers will no longer enjoy unlimited water, and the Coachella agency will have to set aside its decades-old grievances against Imperial.

There are also provisions on underground storage, the cost of shipping water via the aqueduct, conservation and how water saved in past accords should be allocated.

“People at [water] agencies spend their whole lives making sure their area has enough water,” said Coachella general manager Tom Levy. “It’s very, very difficult to get them to change their behaviors. . . . It has taken a long time for everybody to develop enough trust to work together.”

The deal will allow for the historic sale of water from the water-rich Imperial Valley to water-indigent San Diego County. The sale will be the largest transfer of water from an agricultural irrigation district to an urban district in U.S. history.

California has been under pressure from the federal government and other Southwestern states to cut its use of Colorado River water. Water transfers between farms and cities are considered key to California’s plan to reduce its annual take from the river. Babbitt has repeatedly threatened to cut California’s share of the Colorado unless the state devises a plan to use water more conservatively.