We Built It; They Should Pay to Use It

The fundamental problem with California’s water is the inevitability of droughts. But we must not allow a handful of influential private interests--armed with some of the most powerful lobbyists in Sacramento--to manipulate Southern California’s need for water reliability for their own financial benefit.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is under attack in Sacramento and in the courts by private interests that are using a public facade to conceal their push to use Southern California’s water infrastructure without compensating taxpayers.

Victory for these special interests would jeopardize future water conservation and recycling programs, which have limited the region’s need for imported water from Northern California. While water transfers provide flexibility and reliability, we cannot stake the region’s future only on a suppliers’ market option.

Through a regional commitment to water conservation and recycling, Southern California today imports the same amount of water it did in 1976, although there are 5.5 million more people here. Many Southland water agencies also are committed to further improving water storage programs that allow communities to tuck away surplus water in years of heavy rainfall for use during dry times.

This additional storage gives the region the flexibility to comply with environmental rules to protect, as an example, migrating fish in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Southern California is a desert, but has sufficient water supplies because of innovative resource planning. How to apportion limited water supplies in droughts is the defining political question that has divided California for decades.

The greatest challenge for water agencies is meeting the water needs of an increasing population and the need to protect both the environment and one of the world’s premiere economies. The MWD is streamlining its operations and revamping its mission to meet the many changes taking place in communities served by its 27 member public agencies and others throughout California.

To craft a water insurance policy for future droughts, the MWD and a team of member agency officials are evaluating competitive dry-year transfer proposals from major public and private entities. For example, agricultural companies with extensive water rights and other land-holding companies have stepped forward to participate in this historic process, which is aimed at buying conserved agricultural water for use during droughts. This process demonstrates that a water market can operate to meet the needs of farms, cities and the environment.

However, by definition, droughts mean there is no surplus water. If we allow private interests to dominate our water supply, then during dry times the market would disintegrate into bidding wars for scarce supplies. This would sacrifice the region’s commitment to conservation and recycling, because fees charged by the MWD to its member agencies and third-party transferers include key costs for these purposes.

The MWD has a commitment to water marketing as long as it is in the public interest. As an example, it has recently negotiated a contract with the Santa Margarita Water District in Orange County to obtain transferred water.

However, we oppose legislation, such as SB 2139 by Sens. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine) and David Kelley (R-Idyllwild)--a measure that is being sponsored by influential private corporations--that would allow private water marketers to use taxpayer-financed facilities to transfer their water for free.

Public agencies entrusted with the responsibility to operate and maintain essential facilities that are funded by taxpayers must not allow these facilities to be hijacked by influential private corporations--no matter how much Northern California water they promise to deliver.

The MWD’s position on this has judicial backing. On May 30, the three judges of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that public agencies, like the MWD, could seek reimbursement for portions of water conservation, recycling and vital operations.

Southern California is demanding changes in the way water is acquired, delivered and paid for. The MWD is fashioning an action plan for the next century that will accomplish this, a plan that is not at the expense of Northern California. We recognize our responsibility to conserve, recycle and build storage facilities that will help Southern California import water when it is available and bank it for use during dry times.

However, if some water brokers succeed in their efforts to commandeer taxpayer-funded facilities for free, water will be available only to the highest bidders. Without conservation and recycling to balance the equation, Southern California’s ability to sustain its people and economy will be compromised. This must not happen.