Laserfiche WebLink
<br />otherwise let slip downstream. Southern districts, wary of seeing their <br />supplies from government water projects cut back, started shopping for side <br />deals. <br /> <br />Last year, a dry year, the Department of Water Resources again purchased some <br />water for the farms and cities it serves through the State Water Project. Even <br />more water was purchased by DWR on behalf of endangered fish through an <br />experimental $57-million program. Several other water transfers were negotiated <br />one-on-one between water districts. <br /> <br />One of the largest long-term water transfers being planned would move water <br />from the Imperial Valley to San Diego. But the deal is hung up on a major <br />environmental dilemma: how to transfer the water without accelerating the <br />destruction of the Salton Sea, which is replenished by drainage from Imperial <br />Valley farm fields. <br /> <br />Urban water districts eager to buy water have begun addressing such concerns <br />directly. <br /> <br />MWD SIGNS 35-YEAR DEAL WITH PALO VERDE <br /> <br />Last July, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California--which sells <br />water to agencies serving 17 million people from Ventura to San Diego-- <br />announced a historic agreement with the Palo Verde Irrigation District. <br /> <br />Under the 35-year deal, Metropolitan would buy enough water from willing <br />farmers within the Palo Verde district to supply half a million people a year. <br />The farmers would get the water by fallowing as much as 29% of their land. <br />Metropolitan would pay an up-front fee of $3,170 per acre and an annual fee of <br />$550 for every acre not planted, a deal that could mean millions of dollars <br />each for farmers struggling with low prices for their fruits and vegetables. <br /> <br />Metropolitan has also promised to give Palo Verde community leaders $6 million <br />to offset any economic harm from fallowing. <br /> <br />This is an example of how the system is becoming more mature, said Jerry Johns, <br />chief of the water transfers office of the California Resources Agency. <br /> <br />"People are understanding what's easily doable and what's not and trying to <br />make the system work instead of fighting about things," he said. <br /> <br />Despite rural wariness, the swap of water for dollars will become more <br />prevalent, many water leaders say. <br /> <br />Water transfers have helped "restore reliability for Southern California," said <br />Tim Quinn, a Metropolitan vice president. Without water sales and joint <br />projects with farm districts, he said, the dry year of 2001 would have <br />triggered a major disruption in the economy. <br /> <br />State policymakers are also banking heavily on voluntary water sales as a tool <br />to protect salmon and other fish listed under the Endangered Species Act. And <br />some Northern California water districts have proposed offering a certain <br />amount of water for sale each year to avoid challenges to their generous water <br />rights. <br /> <br />Last year, more than 637,000 acre-feet of water was transferred, the equivalent <br />of 10% of all the water delivered by the state's two biggest water projects. <br /> <br />That's more water transferred than in any year except 1991, the first year of <br />the drought water bank, Johns said, and it doesn't count the unknown amount of <br /> <br />60 <br />