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<br />mE SAN DlIGO UNION
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<br />REASSIGNMENT TO SACRAMENTO
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<br />Su"cJay, f.brooty 8, J976
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<br />COLO. WATER
<br />CONSERVAT!ON 80ARC
<br />
<br />Governor Wants To Diverf Colorado River Board's Power
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<br />Copley N..I S.rvl~
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<br />: . SACRAMENTO- Gov. Edmund
<br />G, Brown Jr, ha, droPP<'<I a bloc!<,
<br />.buster on Southern California's Colo-
<br />. rado River Board wluch has been
<br />fighting for Callfornla's Water and
<br />. pl;)Wer rights for 39 years.
<br />:-: In his budget message, BroWll
<br />. recommended that the board be
<br />e1bntnated; that it's functions be
<br />reass1gned to the Slate Departmenl
<br />of Water Resources In Sacramento.
<br />IDs reasoning: the Colorado River
<br />'Bfrves only Southern Califom1a,.and
<br />the agenCies represented on the
<br />'boiril are all Sout!lern Calilornia
<br />, agencies that should not be speaking
<br />. tor the state,
<br />. - The deds1on, thus, takes a philo.
<br />. sophlcal rather than a practical
<br />---view, since the Colorado River
<br />. ~ard can potnt to a history of
<br />success.
<br />The boaed, formed in 1937, is com.
<br />prSed of representaUves of SIX
<br />Southland agencies dependent upon
<br />the Colorado for water or power:
<br />.Ute Palo Verde Irr1galior!. DiStncl,
<br />the Imperial IrrtgaUon District,
<br />COachella Valley County Water DIS.
<br />bict, the Metropolitan Water Dis-
<br />tT:lct of Southern California, San
<br />Diego County Water .Authority and
<br />the City of Los Angeles Department
<br />of Water and Power.
<br />The board operates on a budgel 01
<br />$393,000, two-thirds of which Is pajd
<br />by .the member agencies and one-
<br />third by the state.
<br />
<br />The board, bowever, has a differ.
<br />tog and more pragmatic vie..... of it's
<br />fUnction: every other stale among
<br />the seven served by the Colorado
<br />River is in an Identical position to
<br />CalifornJa; ie., just a portion of the
<br />States benefit from Colorado water
<br />but the water boards speak for the
<br />entire state.
<br />"The federal government wants to
<br />deal with state agencies; the other
<br />states want to deal with each olher,"
<br />Myron B. Holburt, chief engineer,
<br />pointed out. art we try to present our
<br />views through a regional agency, we
<br />would be severely handicapped. We
<br />would be in a much poorer bargain-
<br />Ing position,"
<br />Other states served by Colorado
<br />RIver water are Wyoming, Colorado,
<br />....~- U~...;..... ",..t'I IIhh III thp lIllnPr
<br />
<br />Brown's plan to disband tJ:Je board
<br />and turn its respons1biliUes over to
<br />the state Department of Water Re-
<br />sources:
<br />- The six agencies now represent-
<br />ed on the board are thE" ones which
<br />own the water rights to the Colorado.
<br />They. are the ones which own the
<br />contracts with the secretary of the
<br />interior; the state itself has none.
<br />An)' kind of JXllicy detenninalion
<br />IRvolving these ri~hts is so vital to
<br />Uie six agencies, which dlStribute
<br />water an~ power to 11 mWion people
<br />in Southern California, that it is
<br />wrong to cut them completely out at
<br />the decJslon.maJting.
<br />
<br />If BrOWD'g recommendation is ap-
<br />proved by the, Legislature, Holburt
<br />sai~, the agenNes would have to
<br />fonn another organization and Cali-
<br />ro~ would end up with two groups
<br />representing Cali[ornia'S interests
<br />in!)te,ad of one.
<br />- The Colorado River Board also
<br />compares the size and locus of its
<br />small IS-member agency with that
<br />of the Depanment of Water Re-
<br />sources, with thousands of employ-
<br />es and widespread responsjbiliUes.
<br />The direclor, they pointed out,
<br />"would have to delegate Colorado
<br />River matters dO'.\-T] the line."
<br />The Colorad:> River Board, on the
<br />other hand, is composed of mgh-
<br />level personnel (Holburt, as chief
<br />engineer, is on a par with the state
<br />highway engineer or the divLsion
<br />engfneer of water resources iJ:!
<br />. rank). .
<br />"We have .the expertise, the con-
<br />lacts, the knowll'dge and are able to
<br />mo\'e quickly on any mailer to pro-
<br />tect California's interests,': Holburt
<br />said.
<br />- The' Colorado River also is
<br />concerned about polential conflict of
<br />Interest 10 the stale DE'panment of
<br />Water Resources, which has the re-
<br />sponSibility of managmg and selling
<br />waler from the StalE' Water Projecl.
<br />The major purchaser of state
<br />water and the major urban user of
<br />Colorado Ri,,'er water Is !.he same
<br />agency, the Metropolitan Water DIs-
<br />trict.
<br />"So on one hand," HolbUrt said,
<br />"you'd have the offIcial responsible
<br />for selling state waler, primarily to
<br />MWD, also beIng asked to protect
<br />MptroOf)litan's interests in the Colo-
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<br />Rt-I'F" '["
<br />'.v_IV U
<br />MAR 0 5 1976
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<br />
<br />Sr. administration, the board was
<br />urgeil "not to fight for it very hard."
<br />The tlilaklng at the time was that
<br />California should go to the OJlumbia
<br />River for water.
<br />-, Again, under the Ronald
<br />Reagan administration, the Colora-
<br />do board was urged to ease up, too.
<br />because the credo was "to buy more
<br />stale water."
<br />The Colorado Rjver Board heJd
<br />out, Holburt recalls, for the federirJ
<br />legislation wtuch is now law.
<br />"It's this kind of Uling that worries
<br />our guys qUite a bit," he said:
<br />"whether you'd have the kind of
<br />dedication and Interest in fighLmg
<br />throm:h a toU2h problem and max.
<br />
<br />or. new' legaJ maneuver to change
<br />this allocatIOn.
<br />California gels more than 5 milllon
<br />. acre feet of water a year (rom the
<br />Colorado, which represents aboul
<br />three-quarters of the water used in
<br />Southern California, Even when the
<br />State Water Project is completed,
<br />sometlme after the turn or the centu-
<br />ry, the Colorado will be provi.ding
<br />
<br />'C,OLORADO
<br />~'Ve:R
<br />Wp..'f'E~ .'
<br />;:;:'';4~'~~;~
<br />"",. ~ -lames Bumett
<br />The San Diego Union
<br />
<br />board: The resJXln5e we get from our
<br />contacts in the Legislature is that
<br />such a bill wouldn't pass. So what
<br />happens If the money to operate lSrI't
<br />there but the board still is on the
<br />books willi a statutory function?" he
<br />asked,
<br />The Colorado River Board can
<br />point to major successes in the past.
<br />In 1974, for example, it took the
<br />leadership in drafting what later
<br />turned out to be the Colorado River
<br />SalmUy Act of 1974, working with the
<br />other states in getting a unified
<br />posiUon among the1r representatives
<br />in Congress.
<br />This law, WhICh authorizes salinity
<br />control projects, is expecteil to pre--
<br />\'ent saJinit)' damage that by the
<br />year 2000 could cost California $'I{)
<br />million a year.
<br />Last year, the board-again work-
<br />ing in a leadership pos:luon among
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<br />....,
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<br />Moody said that the Six public
<br />agencies on. the board "probably
<br />would be wUllng to increase their
<br />contributions and thus reduce the
<br />stale's cost in llnewWl Gov. Brown's
<br />economy. program."
<br />R.E. Badger, a d1rector of the San
<br />Diego CoWlty Water Authority and.
<br />its representaUve on the board, also
<br />has voiced a deep concern among
<br />Southern CalifornJans. He said he
<br />fears that the state Department of
<br />Water Resources, as indicated by its
<br />past actions, may not pay the same
<br />attention, as the CoJorado RJver
<br />Board has done., to the water prob-
<br />lems of Southern California."
<br />The Metropolitan Water District
<br />also has gone on record 33 opposing
<br />Brown's proposal, saying that "at
<br />one stroke it would destroy the sound
<br />and productive working relationship
<br />the board has developed over the
<br />years with the other basin stateS.
<br />. Hans Doe, chainnan of the San
<br />Diego County Water Authority, sees
<br />the move as: "endangering water
<br />and -'power of the river as far as
<br />CalifornJa is concerned."
<br />
<br />Letters of prote!S to the governor
<br />also have been written by Sen.
<br />James R. Mills, D-San Diego,. presi-
<br />dent pro tern of the' stale Senate, and
<br />Sen. John Stull, R-Escondido.
<br />Stull pointed out that "a substan-
<br />tial legislative majority beMves
<br />there 15 a staLe-a.'i opposed to strict-
<br />Jy a rf'gjonal--interesl in the activi-
<br />Ues o( the Colorado River Board."
<br />Secretary of Resources Claire
<br />Dedridc, replying to Stull, comment-
<br />ed: "We recognize that there is a
<br />state interest in the Colorado River
<br />just as there is a. state interest. in
<br />other Important streams in Califor-
<br />rua. The basic question being raised
<br />with reganl to the Colorado River
<br />Board is the appropriateness of the
<br />present form 01 the board, not the
<br />need to protect the water lights
<br />within the state."
<br />TIle governor's position is support-
<br />ed, also, by Hugo Fisher, fanner
<br />state direclor of the Resources
<br />Agency under the Edmund G. Brown
<br />Sr. adminlstratlon, and now a supe-
<br />rior court Judge. .
<br />"The CRB has often taken posl.
<br />tions that are not compatible with
<br />the rest. of the state," he said.
<br />"There's no reason why .Ute ~te
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