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CALIFORNIA California's reliance on Colorado River water is as entrenched today - and perhaps even more so - than any other time in history. Colorado River water serves agricultural. municipal and industrial use, and as needs expand and supplies from northern California face greater regulatory restrictions. southern California water users have sought to use their Colorado supplies more efficiently. As early as the mid-1870s. settlers in Palo Verde Valley, adjacent to the river. tapped the Colorado as an irrigation source. But not until 1901, under the direction of famed irrigationist George Chaffey and developer Charles Rockwood, did Colorado River water reach the Imperial Valley. In 1924. Los Angeles applied to divert 1.1 million acre-feet annually from the Colorado River and in 1926. San Diego applied to divert 116.000 acre-feet (both applied to the federal government). Los Angeles and other southern California municipali- ties created MWD in 1928 to build an aqueduct and serve as a water wholesaler. In 1931. a $220 million bond issue for the 242-mile long Colorado River Aqueduct was approved and the structure was completed in 1941. II was later expanded to its current capacity: 1.3 million acre-feet per year. But it is the large. primarily agricultural irrigation districts in the southern California desert that consume the most Colorado River water. The Palo Verde Irri- gation District (PVID). the Yuma Project-Reservation Division(YPRD), Imperial Irrigation District (liD) and Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) are collec- tively entitled up to 3.85 million acre-feet annually. MWD holds the fourth priority totaling 550.000 acre. feet annually. When sufficient water is available. MWD can use its fifth priority rights totaling 662.000 acre.feet. The sixth priority of 300.000 acre-feet is divided among lands in the Imperial. Coachella and Palo Verde irrigation districts. At present. liD has been diverting about 3 million acre.feet annually - nearly one-fifth of the Colorado River's dependable annual flow and the single largest allocation of use of the river's water - at Imperial Dam and through the All-American Canal. liD serves an area 25 miles wide, 40 miles long and bounded on the south by Mexico, irrigating roughly 500,000 acres per year. Under a 1989 State Water Resources Control Board - . " decision over liD's water use in which the board accused liD of wasting water. MWD and liD formed a conser- vation/transfer agreement. Under the agreement. MWD would line canals. improve IID's water distribution system and fund on-farm water management improvements in exchange for 106.000 acre-feet of conserved Colorado River water annually for at least 35 years. Under a separate agreement, CVWD would be able to claim 50.000 acre-feet of this supply. To date. MWD has spent some $158 million to fund the water conservation program. ./ -~. ~ .- "';' Other water efficiency measures taken within south- ern California include: lining nearly 50 miles of the Coach ell a Canal to save 132.000 acre.feet of water annually; congressional authorization to line up to 30 miles of the All-American Canal and 38 additional miles of the Coachella Canal and $235 million passed in a 1999 California state bond for lining the remainder of the Coachella and AII.American canals: a 1994. agreement between MWD and PVID on a two-year pilot land fallowing program whereby MWD paid farmers $25 million not to grow crops on 20.215 acres of land. in exchange for 186.000 acre. feet of Colorado River water that was stored in Lake Mead but lost in a 1997 flood control release (A similar proposal with PVID was announced in 2001 that could yield up to 111.000 acre-feet of Colorado River water for MWD): and completion of the new. $2 billion. 800.000 acre-feet Diamond Valley Reservoir near Hemet, Calif. MWD also has been involved with a controversial proposal to bank Colorado River water in aquifers underlying land owned by the private company. Cadiz Inc., a citrus farming operation. Under the proposal, MWD would pay to bank up to 900.000 acre-feet of water from the Colorado River Aqueduct in Cadiz's aquifers. Environmental groups have been opposed to the proposal staling it would negatively impact nearby wildlife areas. In 1996 and 1997. the secretary of the Interior directed California to develop a plan to reduce its water consumption back to its basic 4.4 million acre- feet apportionment or face the prospect of the federal government imposing a plan to accomplish this. The proposal. known as the "4.4 Plan," is currently in the final stages of preparation before its implementation (see page 21). Traveling "wit/reds of miles through a bartl'" desert, the Colorado Ri~.er Aqueduct pro\"ides California lI.illt millions of gallo1ls of H.are!: 19