Sweet Deal for Tap Water

The water wholesaler for Southern California and a San Joaquin Valley farm group are negotiating a stunning water trade that would bring tastier, even safer water to about 17 million area residents. The Metropolitan Water District would receive an infusion of sweet, pure Sierra Nevada water from the upper San Joaquin River to mix with its salty Colorado River supply. In return, the Friant Water Users Authority, whose members irrigate 1 million acres on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, would get Metropolitan’s supply from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta--dirtier water but fine for irrigating crops.

Metropolitan would also help the farmers finance projects to expand their total water supply. One San Joaquin Valley newspaper likened the Met-Friant meeting to a cobra and a mongoose having a friendly chat. Farmers, remembering Los Angeles’ raid on Owens River water nearly a century ago, never have trusted the big urban districts. This alliance shows the possibilities of cooperation and the benefits that water exchanges could bring throughout the state.

Considerable detail has to be worked out. The farmers will rightly insist that they not give up an ounce of their water rights in the trade. That’s not a problem for Met, which has adequate supply for now. But the agency needs to improve the quality of the water it wholesales to its 27 member agencies from Ventura County to the Mexican border.

This deal would write another chapter in the tortured saga of the San Joaquin, which has been called the nation’s most abused river. The San Joaquin rises in the Ritter Range of the Sierra, a few miles from the Mammoth Mountain ski area. After flowing to the southwest out of the mountains it takes a sharp turn to the north near Mendota. The San Joaquin picks up other streams--and the polluted irrigation runoff from thousands of farms--before joining the Sacramento to form the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Actually, the free-flowing San Joaquin died in 1942 when Friant Dam was completed 20 miles northeast of Fresno as part of the federal Central Valley Project. In the spring and summer of most years, the entire flow is taken by farmers in the valley. The Friant group also has been negotiating with environmentalists to leave enough water in the lower river to restore it. The environmental groups want the restoration achieved before any water is sent to Metropolitan, via the state Water Project’s California Aqueduct south of Bakersfield. In fact, the additional water the Friant farmers get in the Met deal will provide some of the supply needed for the restoration. The water exchange need not be held up until the project is done.

The aesthetic ideal would be to fully restore the San Joaquin to flow free and clear from the Ritter Range to the delta. That is not going to happen. Next best is a water trade that would benefit the farmers, the city folk and the river.