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<br />SignOnSanDiego.com > News> Special Reports -- Imperial's decision <br /> <br />Page 6 of7 <br /> <br />Water barons <br /> <br />Enter the Bass Brothers and an intriguing chapter in Western water <br />lore. <br /> <br />Texas land barons Sid, Edward, Robert and Lee Bass in 1995 bought <br />acreage in the Imperial Valley, telling locals they wanted to run cattle. <br />Before too long, however, word filtered out that they were more <br />interested in selling water, not beef. <br /> <br />"From that day fear set in," said Larry Bratton, an El Centro <br />shopkeeper. <br /> <br />Locals viewed the Bass Brothers and the San Diego water authority as <br />brazen interlopers trying to secretly move water out of the county. <br /> <br />The farmers are convinced that decades ago, Los Angeles used similar <br />subterfuge to secure water rights from Owens Valley, a move that <br />ruined some growers and inspired the movie "Chinatown." <br /> <br />Dennis Cushman, assistant general manager of the San Diego water <br />authority, said the Bass Brothers controversy has quieted. <br /> <br />"Some people may enjoy reveling in the folklore, but it hasn't been <br />terribly meaningful in our relationship with the Imperial Irrigation <br />District," Cushman said. <br /> <br />The Bass Brothers bailed out, selling their 43,000 acres to U.S. Filter, a <br />huge water conglomerate that owns Culligan. <br /> <br />U.S. Filter, however, may take up where the Bass Brothers left off, <br />albeit with a more publicly acceptable plan. <br /> <br />"We bought it with the expectation that we would be able to combine <br />on-farm conservation with the ability ultimately to transfer water to the <br />urban areas," said Stephen Stanczak, U.S. Filter's attorney. <br /> <br />"There has to be a movement of agricultural water to urban uses, but <br />that does not necessarily have to entail the destruction of the <br />agricultural economy in the Imperial Valley," Stanczak said. <br /> <br />After the Bass Brothers' deal imploded, San Diego water officials <br />opened a new round of talks with the irrigation district. <br /> <br />In response, a water sale was all but finalized in 1998 using proposed <br />widespread conservation and not idling land to save water for sale. <br /> <br />Back to the table <br /> <br />But the plan posed a serious threat to the Salton Sea because it would <br />cut the agricultural runoff that replenishes the lake. State and federal <br />environmental agencies balked at issuing permits. <br /> <br />It was back to the negotiating table for three more years for the four <br />principals: San Diego, Imperial, Metropolitan and the Coachella Valley <br />Irrigation District. <br /> <br />http://www.signonsandiego.comlnews/reports/water/20021208-9999-water .html <br /> <br />12/10/02 <br />