Bringing Water Security to San Diego
A Guest Editorial by
Secretary Gale A. Norton

Appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune October 17, 2003

Bringing water security to San Diego

By Gale A. Norton
October 17, 2003

The people of San Diego have good reason to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Thanks to the patience, perseverance and hard work of their leaders, including Maureen Stapleton and her staff at the San Diego County Water Authority, along with dozens of other local, state and federal officials, San Diego has secured a reliable supply of additional water to help meet the community's vital needs for decades to come.

The 2003 Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement will enable California to meet the needs of its citizens – urban and rural – in a manner that respects the rights of the other Colorado River Basin states.

The historic pact, which clears the way for the largest, long-term agriculture-to-urban water transfers in U.S. history, will supply San Diego about a third of its future water needs. The San Diego County Water Authority will receive up to 200,000 acre-feet annually from the Imperial Valley Irrigation District, the state's largest user of Colorado River water.

The transfers will continue for as long as 75 years. Initially, San Diego will pay $258 an acre-foot. The San Diego County Water Authority also will pay for water conservation measures in the Imperial Valley.

Up to 1.6 million acre-feet of additional water, which Imperial could conserve, would be sold to the state, for resale to Southern California cites and towns. For 17 million residents of Southern California cities, these sales provide a critically needed water supply on which to build their future. For Imperial Valley, the transfers could generate $2 billion over 75 years.

The key to this agreement – and to fulfilling California's 1929 promise to live within its 4.4 million acre-foot limit – was quantifying, or dividing, the state's share of Colorado River water among its southern farming and urban communities.

Quantification – determining who owns how much water – was critical to the ability of California to use market-based transfers of water from farms to cities to meet its needs within its legal entitlement. However, this quantification has been a difficult and elusive goal since 1931.

The framework to implement today's agreement was reached after years of difficult negotiations. In late 2000, California, the other six Basin states, and the Department of the Interior agreed on this framework, known as the Interim Surplus Guidelines, which offers California a choice. If the state meets all of the guidelines' bench marks, it would continue to have a grace period, allowing access to extra water over a 15-year period during the transition down to its 4.4 million acre-foot limit. If California failed to meet a bench mark, it would immediately lose access to that extra water.

Despite the efforts of many local, state and federal officials, California failed to meet the first major bench mark under the Interim Surplus Guidelines on Dec. 31, 2001, and automatically lost its access to the extra Colorado River water available under the guidelines.

Since then, negotiations continued among the San Diego County Water Authority and three other California water agencies, Interior, and representatives of all seven Colorado River Basin states. All parties worked through an astounding series of difficult issues. As a result of the hard work, dedication and persistence of those negotiators, we mark a historic turning point for California and the Basin states. We celebrate the fact that California water management agencies have agreed among themselves as to how California's 4.4 million acre-feet will be allocated within the state.

By executing this pact, California will keep its 1929 promise to limit its use of Colorado River water to 4.4 million acre-feet by adopting specific, incremental steps to gradually reduce its use over the next 14 years. The state also will be able to provide water for San Diego and its other growing cities in the southern half of the state, as well as its farming communities, and address the environmental concerns of the Salton Sea.

The agreement allows farming communities in Southern California to strengthen their economies through water efficiency projects, canal modernization, conservation, and water marketing. Litigation regarding use of Colorado River water also has been resolved. For all seven states in the Colorado River Basin, the agreement provides certainty, allowing them to protect their authorized allocations and meet their future water needs. In addition, this pact provides the critical water supply necessary to finally resolve the water rights claims of the La Jolla, Pala, Pauma, Rincon and San Pasqual bands of Mission Indians.

Relying on the promises made in the agreement, I have fully reinstated the grace period of the Interim Surplus Guidelines. With this agreement, conflict on the river is stilled. Our commitment to the Law of the Colorado River remains clear. The future of San Diego and the Colorado River Basin is made more secure by this addition to the Law of the River.

Norton is U.S. secretary of the interior.

Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.