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Water Peace

When was the last time you heard about a group of environmentalists pushing for a new water diversion project, or a building contractors' association advocating increased flow rates to help endangered fish species? Well, you're likely to find that happening more in the future, now that representatives of over three dozen business organizations, environmentalists, water purveyors and local governments in the Sacramento and Foothill regions have signed on to the 30-year Water Forum Agreement.

Their autographs cap over six years of negotiations and thousands of hours of meetings aimed at two goals: preserving the ecology of the lower American River for the next three decades and at the same time providing a "reliable and safe" water supply for those who depend on it for drinking, agriculture and other needs. Those two objectives - the source of so much conflict practically since the state's inception - are "sacrosanct," says the Forum's Jonas Minton.

Each Forum participant agreed to make these goals "co-equal" and, more importantly, to take specific steps toward meeting them. It was a true give and take. Surface water diversions are projected to increase dramatically over the next three decades and environmentalists agreed to support a number of proposed water projects, including treatment facilities, pumping plants and pipelines throughout the region. Agencies, in turn, agreed to more aggressive conservation programs, and to back an updating of the flow standards in the lower American, in order to benefit downstream fish habitats. In addition, the agreement states everybody will join together when dealing with state and federal agencies, even if that may mean supporting positions that were anathema to them in the past.

Some of that has already begun to happen. Forum members have gone before the State Water Resources Control Board, asking for an update of the water flow standards. They also successfully lobbied the federal government to allocate $3.5 million for a temperature control device at Folsom Dam, something regarded as critical for enhancing steelhead and salmon runs on the American.

Each water purveyor, meanwhile, has submitted a detailed conservation plan. Water meters, generally regarded as a key to any major conservation effort, were a big issue in the talks. Many districts are already being required under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act to install water meters, but they have agreed to speed up the process so that they will begin a phased-in retrofit program starting in the year 2004.

The city of Sacramento is exempted from the water meter requirement because its charter specifically prohibits mandatory retrofits. Instead, it will undertake a voluntary effort to convince people that they can save money by having a meter installed and then lowering their water use. It will also undertake additional conservation efforts, such as offering indoor plumbing retrofits and rebates for people who install ultra low flush toilets. The city's James Sequeira estimates it will cost the city about $2 million a year to institute the programs.

Environmentalists will still be able to lobby for a citywide retrofit program, or for legislation that mandates meter installation statewide, but Sequeira doesn't think that any local pols are likely to back them. Unmetered water, he says half jokingly, "is a religious issue here."

The agreement covers a number of other issues as well, including conjunctive use programs and groundwater management. Coming to agreement on such a wide range of topics wasn't easy "A lot of the people involved were traditionally adversaries," notes Jim Ray, who represented the Building Industry Association on the Forum. One of Ray's "traditional adversaries," Ronald Stork of Friends of the River, says that at the beginning, he was told there would be a meeting a month for maybe two years. Instead, it took six years, and he says, "for long periods, I was going to a negotiating meeting a day."

All sides agree that the intense process allowed the participants to get to know each other and appreciate each other's viewpoints. But they still built in a number of safeguards to make sure everyone adhered to the agreement. "Assurances are critical," says Minton. Environmental groups will automatically be given "third party beneficiary" status in contracts signed by water agencies - this makes it much easier for them to sue if they feel the contract doesn't meet the requirements of the Water Forum Agreement. The participants will continue to hold regular meetings, and the agreement recognizes that circumstances, such as federal regs and scientific data, are going to change over the next three decades. Agencies will be allowed to make needed alterations to their programs, so long as they meet the overall objectives of the agreement. "It reflects the real world," says Minton.

Contact: Water Forum (916)264-1999

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