A Twist in the Water Wars

California farm groups usually howl when anyone talks about taking irrigated land out of production. But now some growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley are proposing that the federal government pay them hundreds of millions of dollars to idle 150,000 to 200,000 acres, possibly for a wildlife refuge. This is a startling development that might turn out to be a good deal for the public and the environment, depending on the ultimate cost. The farmers’ eagerness supports the argument that the marginal, salty land never should have been converted from desert to cropland.

The idea of retiring land from production--often to free up water for city use--usually prompts talk of economic devastation to farmers and farm towns. But the talk around the large farms of the Westlands Water District these days is of other economic realities--such as not having enough irrigation water and the increasing pollution of cropland by salt-laden irrigation runoff.

The 600,000-acre Westlands Water District cuts a 15-by-50-mile swath through western Fresno and Kings counties. Westlands holds contracts for more than 1 million acre-feet of water a year--a third more than Los Angeles uses in a year--from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. However, its supplies have been cut in recent years to improve the environmental health of the wildlife-critical Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and to restore salmon runs in the Trinity River.

The cutbacks became so severe in recent years that Westlands farmers staged a daring legal raid on long-standing water rights of small family farmers on the east side of the valley. As part of a deal to stop farming, Westlands would give up that claim.

The other problem is drainage. Normally, much of the irrigation water applied to a field percolates deep underground, leaching off salts and other minerals in the process. In Westlands, the water is stopped by a layer of clay a few feet below the surface. The buildup of salty water toward the surface stunts or kills crops.

The Bureau of Reclamation began building the San Luis Drain decades ago to carry the runoff back to the delta. But the drain was never finished, so the runoff was dumped into Kesterson Reservoir. That stopped in the mid-1980s after ducks and other waterfowl began dying at Kesterson, poisoned by the mineral selenium, naturally present in Westlands soil. Westlands farmers sued the federal government, and a solution to the drainage problem is still pending.

The proposed cost to retire the land, at $2,500 an acre, comes to about $500 million. That’s far too steep, but a drainage solution would be costly too. Westlands farmers need to acknowledge that they, as well as the government, have caused the problem. The Bush administration should negotiate with Westlands in search of a reasonable deal. An offer that might save water and perhaps even restore wildlife habitat is always worth pursuing.