Gale Norton Addresses State's
Water Issues
Issue Date: November 27, 2002
By Robyn Rutger
Managing Editor
The importance of a rapidly approaching deadline for dealing with
water from the Colorado River was emphasized last week by Interior
Secretary Gale Norton as she addressed attendees at the fall conference
of the Association of California Water Agencies in Anaheim.
During the conference at the Disneyland Hotel, Norton acknowledged
that California must meet the requirements of the Colorado River
Quantification Settlement Agreement (also known as the California
4.4 Plan) by the end of the year in order to have continued access
to surplus water in the river beyond the state's annual allocation
of 4.4 million acre-feet.
Norton expressed confidence that the state's water districts would
meet the requirements that are the result of a decade-long process
between the Department of the Interior and the seven Colorado River
Basin states. She stressed, however, that if those requirements
are not met by Dec. 31, then in 2003, California will lose access
to as much as 800,000 acre-feet of extra water from the Colorado
River.
An acre-foot is 326,000 gallons, enough to sustain the household
needs of eight people for one year.
Norton expressed her hope that the hard work of all the parties
will result in success, but cautioned that the Dec. 31 deadline
is rapidly approaching. "We are now only one month plus one
week away from mandatory action and there are no time outs left,"
she said.
The Cal-Fed San Francisco Bay-Delta Program was another topic that
Norton addressed during her keynote speech at the ACWA conference.
Cal-Fed is a consortium of federal and state agencies that is charged
with the task of balancing the water needs of California's farmers,
cities and the Bay-Delta ecosystem. The program is dependent upon
state and federal funding. While state funds have been allocated
for the current fiscal year, federal funds have not.
"We share with many of you a very strong desire to see the
Congress authorize the Cal-Fed program," Norton said. She noted
that the U.S. Senate passed "a bare-bones version of that authorization"
last Wednesday.
"If this provision becomes law, it will remove one hurdle
to full federal participation in Cal-Fed," she said.
Rep. Wally Herger, R-Redding, opposed the bill, however, and consequently,
no action was taken on the legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives,
which is now adjourned.
"Clearly, implementing the program will be significantly more
complex than creating it on paper," Norton said, noting that
"budget pressures are among the challenges we face."
After Norton's speech, Stephen Hall, executive director of ACWA,
said, "I feel reassured that they want Cal-Fed to succeed and
will do what they can to help, including funding. But I also heard
her say Cal-Fed would have to compete with other priorities. We
expect that, but we believe because Cal-Fed is a model for how to
solve Western resource problems, it should be viewed as an investment
not just in California but as an investment in the future of the
West."
A total of 2,126 people attended the conference, breaking last
year's record by one. Participants attended sessions ranging from
improving domestic water systems to regional watershed planning.
The Central Valley Project Improvement Act was discussed by panelists
representing agriculture, cities and the environment. The Central
Valley Project is a federal water project that provides water to
agricultural and urban contractors. Enacted 10 years ago, the CVPIA
reallocated 800,000 acre-feet of farmers' irrigation water to the
environment. Farmers are still paying the operation and maintenance
fees for the 800,000 acre-feet of water that they do not have access
to. Farmers want to be compensated.
Kole Upton, chairman of the Friant Water Users Authority, said,
"CVPIA is not divinely inspired." The FWUA distributes
federal water to farmers on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley.
When asked what was the one thing he would do to change the law
that was passed in 1992, Upton responded, "Repeal it."
At a session entitled, "The Regulatory and Economic Crisis
for California Agriculture in the 21st Century," two water
attorneys provided a summary of problems that the agricultural industry
faces, ranging from water shortages to foreign competition. Jeanne
Zolezzi of Herum Crabtree Brown law firm in Stockton cited a recent
report by the California Farm Bureau Federation Farm Crisis Task
Force that shows there are multiple causes of the farm crisis.
Chris Campbell of Baker Manock & Jensen law firm in Fresno
said California's population of 35 million people is expected to
grow to 50 million in the next 15 years. "That population growth
is going to require water," he said.
Challenges to irrigators include a lawsuit by about 20 environmental
groups who want to restore salmon runs on the San Joaquin River.
In addition, in 2003, farmers in the San Joaquin Valley will no
longer be exempt from federal air pollution regulations and are
concerned that they will not be able to comply with the new rules,
Zolezzi said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to designate 1.7 million
acres of California land as critical habitat in order to protect
vernal pool species such as fairy shrimp. Much of this acreage is
situated on agricultural land.
Due to salinity problems in the San Joaquin Valley, the federal
government has proposed to buy 35,000 acres of farmland within the
Westlands Water District and use it as an irrigation drainage area.
Farmers are concerned that they will not be adequately compensated
for the land buy-out, however.
After the attorneys' presentation, Bob Curry, a director of the
Solano Irrigation District in Vacaville and a Farm Service Agency
employee, reacted by saying, "I find their comments to be typical
of what I've heard in the last five years in my job as a Farm Service
Agency representative. Their thoughts on the positive side were
quite scarce regarding the whole agricultural picture."
Another session focused on helping water districts improve communications
with their members.
Dave Kranz, CFBF water information specialist, discussed Web site
design. He likened it to first-time visitors to an office building
who should be able to find out where they need to go as soon as
they walk into the lobby. "A visitor to your Web site should
be able to find what he or she wants in one or two or at most three
clicks of the mouse," he said. "If not, your visitor will
leave in frustration and may or may not come back."
Numerous awards were presented during the ACWA conference.
State Sen. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, received the ACWA Lifetime Achievement
Award. Costa has been chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Water
Resources Committee since he was elected to the Senate in 1994.
In his previous job as a California assemblyman, he chaired the
Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee from 1983-1990.
Costa, who has reached the end of his legislative tenure, recalled
his accomplishments during his keynote speech at the ACWA luncheon
on Wednesday.
"You cannot solve all you problems in Sacramento or Washington
alone, "he said, calling on every region to "forge ahead"
and work together.
The ACWA President's Award was presented to Assemblyman Dave Kelley,
R-Palm Desert, for his years of distinguished service in the Legislature.
First elected to the Assembly in 1978, Kelley has authored key measures
on water conservation, local government organization, water rights
and agricultural land preservation.
"Dave Kelley has been a strong and effective representative
of his constituents, with a reputation for bipartisanship and cooperation,"
ACWA President Bette Boatmun said. "He has been a great friend
of ACWA."
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