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Water Wheeling & Dealing
Longtime enemies in the North-South water wars are negotiating to present a late Christmas gift to the State Water Resources Control Board sometime in early 1996-Northern California water.
Northern California interests say they are willing to volunteer water to stay out of court and to help fix the Delta. But environmentalists say a settlement between Delta exporters and Northern California water rights holders must be just the first step in acquiring the water needed to satisfy the environmental goals and requirements of the December 15, 1994 Bay- Delta Accord.
Under the Accord and the State Water Quality Control Plan for the Delta that backs it up, interests in all camps of the water wars agreed on a short- term fix and a long-term process (see CALFED page 6) for saving the Bay-Delta ecosystem. Part of that short-term fix is more water for the environment. The question now before the State Board, as it holds workshops over the next three months and begins preparing an Environmental Impact Statement, is how and from whom to acquire that water. The report will be the foundation for a new water rights decision, according to the Board's Tom Howard, possibly as early as 1997.
For these reasons, the State Board is particularly interested in the negotiated settlement promised in early 1996 between the long-thirsty CUWA-AG group of Delta water diverters (representing urban and agricultural water users statewide) and a consortium of officials from Northern California, where abundant water supplies are protected by senior water rights.
In the absence of such a negotiated settlement, regulatory action by the State Board would be the only way to get water for the Bay-Delta process from users other than exporters, who hold junior water rights, and contractors, who get water from the state and federal water projects.
The Northern California Water Association`s Rich Golb says upstate water rights holders have stepped forward to avoid a costly legal battle in which long-term water rights might be threatened. As this issue went to press, the amount of water being discussed ranged from 50,000-250,000 acre-feet, according to Golb. Under the settlement, Northern California would be paid by CUWA-AG to allow this water to continue down the rivers to the Delta as requested by environmental agencies. At press time, CUWA-AG's Byron Buck suggested the purchase price could be anything from $1-$100 per acre-foot. Buck says CUWA-AG is also negotiating for other water with San Joaquin water interests.
"No one wants this to go to court," says the Natural Heritage Institute's David Fullerton. "The upstream users don't want to lose their water rights, and the downstream users don't want to be made fully responsible for meeting the new water quality standards."
Even a successful deal doesn't mean the environmental needs of the whole watershed will be taken care of, says the Bay Institute's Gary Bobker. That responsibility still lies with the State Board and its workshops and EIR process, he says, when environmental interests and state and federal water suppliers will get their chance to comment on the proposed water transfer settlements, offer improvements and consider other alternatives. "Let's hope the Board rises to the occasion," says Bobker.
The California Waterfowl Association and Cal Fish & Game say the environmental costs of the "third party" impacts of removing water from Northern California (impacts on area wetlands, for example) must be examined by the Board, despite the obvious benefits of using the water to fix environmental problems in the Delta.
In addition to any water squeezed out of negotiated settlements, Fish & Game's Greg Zlotnick thinks the Board should consider bolstering supplies by creating a water market. Environmentalists such as Bobker and Fullerton have long been interested in exploring ways in which a market- based water transfer system, such as the state water bank of the early 1990s, could be used to augment basic environmental protections. "The environment needs to become a full-fledged player in the water markets, instead of having to just wait around for regulatory water," says Fullerton.
State Board workshops exploring alternatives for meeting the requirements of its Bay-Delta water quality control plan begin this January.
Contact: Gary Bobker (415)721-7680; Byron Buck (916)552- 2929; Dave Fullerton (415)288-0550; Tom Howard (916)657-1873; Rich Golb (916)442-8333; Greg Zlotnick (916)653-4207
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