U.S./Mexico water negotiations closely watched

Good morning. Happy Hump Day. A deal between the U.S. and Mexico on how to apportion Colorado River water in drought conditions expires next year and negotiators are in overdrive to renew the pact before President Barack Obama leaves office on Jan. 20.

The talks are being closely watched by California officials. The Golden State relies heavily on Colorado River water, with an entitlement to 4.4 million acre-feet a year. That’s enough to supply nearly 9 million households, though a big chunk of the supply is used to irrigate the hundreds of square miles of agricultural fields in Imperial County (pictured) and the Coachella Valley.

Why the rush? Because U.S. and Mexican officials believe a new deal is crucial to preserving fragile Colorado River supplies. 

CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news:

• “California officials are pushing back on SEIU Local 1000’s plans for a one-day strike next week, warning employees that they could be subject to disciplinary action if they participate in what the state regards as an unlawful walkout,” writes The Sacramento Bee.

• “The state Supreme Court last week agreed to hear an appeal of a groundbreaking ruling that allows cuts in the pensions earned by current state and local government workers, including judges,” reports Capitol Weekly. 

• “A San Francisco supervisor is proposing more money for lawyers to defend immigrants who face possible deportation under a Trump administration. KCBS radio reports that San Francisco Supervisor David Campos will introduce legislation Tuesday setting aside $5 million from the city’s budget to help pay for lawyers to represent people in deportation proceedings.” The Los Angeles Times/Associated Press has more. 

• And in case you missed it: What a Democratic supermajority in the Legislature in the upcoming session may mean for the state. CalWatchdog has more. 

Legislature:

• Gone till December.

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced. 

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But perhaps no community has more cause to be upset than the city of Riverside. In the name of preserving limited water supplies in the Bay Delta, a city that gets no water from the Bay Delta and has taken many successful steps to be water-independent has been forced to cut water consumption by 28 percent. The Riverside Press-Enterprise elaborates on why city leaders have chosen to sue the state, seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction:

Riverside has its own groundwater supplies from the Bunker Hill Basin and is independent of imported water, said Kevin Milligan, deputy general manager at Riverside Public Utilities. …

 

The city applied to the state to be included in a special tier requiring only a 4 percent reduction, but was denied. The 4 percent tier requires a reliable water supply, but applies only to surface water, not groundwater, he said. …

 

“The only difference is surface water you can see and groundwater you can’t,” he said. …

 

To make itself water independent, the city has invested in the John W. North Water Treatment Plan, drilled new wells, captures storm water from the Seven Oaks Dam and has spent $10 million dollars on recycled water infrastructure, he said.

 

Thought it has been drawn down in the drought, the Bunker Hill Basin has at least 1.4 million acre feet of storage left and maybe as much as 5.4 million acre feet, Milligan said. One acre-foot of water is enough to serve two families for a year.

State authorities also rejected Riverside’s separate request for a 24 percent reduction instead of a 28 percent cut, disputing the city’s claim that it didn’t count college students in deciding which tier the city would be in.

More water intrigue in Riverside County

The city of Riverside has regional company in being consumed with water issues and concerns about how to respond to the drought.

As CalWatchdog reported in June, officials in Palm Springs and throughout the Coachella Valley are facing criticism over the vast amounts of water it takes to keep their 124 golf courses and dozens of resorts green and attractive. The explanation that the tourist region has plenty of cheap water thanks to plentiful underground aquifers — despite being located in a desert — hasn’t stemmed the criticism.

Meanwhile, the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, which serves more than 130,000 people in Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, Wildomar and many unincorporated communities, also has been subject to a mandatory 28 percent cut even though it has “already reduced water use by more than 25 percent since 2007 – surpassing the state’s mandated 20 percent by 2020 per capita goal established in 2009. … [Having] these new restrictions unfairly penalized our customers, who have set one of the best examples in the state over the last five years,” Elsinore Valley board President Phil Williams wrote in the Press-Enterprise.

Brown’s emergency water edict expires in February; under state law, it can only extend a maximum of 270 days. Water officials are expected to begin discussions soon on what rules will replace the existing ones.

A key factor will be whether the winter’s expected winter “Godzilla El Niño” brings the massive amount of rain that some — but not all — scientists expect.

The Palm Springs region and its 400,000 residents and 124 golf courses aren’t gobbling up an extreme chunk of Colorado River supplies, as many assume. It’s blessed with huge underground aquifers that are tapped with an efficient water infrastructure that has drawn admiring looks for decades. Its residents, tourism industry and business community have deeply benefited from state laws that require water rates to be linked to the actual cost of providing water.

This is from a 1991 Los Angeles Times story during the last major California drought:

PALM SPRINGS — Like a mirage lurking in a dip in the highway, Palm Springs shimmers enticingly atop the Sonoran Desert, an impossibly green splotch on a canvas of tawny brown.

 

Outside the city, the flat, sandy landscape is broken only rarely by scraggly tamarisk trees, yucca plants and pathetic shrubs twisted by relentless desert winds.

 

But in town it’s another world, with lush grass and petunias lining the boulevards, fountains gurgling outside local landmarks and shaggy palms swaying soothingly in the breeze. There are even misters on several restaurant patios, which shower diners with a fine, tropical spray.

 

For visitors from drought-stressed corners of California, the dramatic contrast provokes instant suspicion: Is this artificial oasis hogging water while folks in other regions are skipping showers?

 

It does look suspicious, but appearances can be deceiving. The truth is, Palm Springs — which gets just 5 inches of rain annually and sweats out 120-degree temperatures most summers — sits atop a vast sea of ground water, which has been carefully managed and now insulates the city from the effects of drought.

Water rates a fraction of coastal cities

During the current drought, Palm Springs water officials are keeping a lower profile — and for good reason. The state government’s announcement Friday that it will put on hold some of the old rules that governed water apportionment in the Central Valley could foreshadow a full-on attack on labyrinth rules that assign water rights in thousands of communities.

But one still sees stories in the local press that underscore how much different — and better — things are in Palm Springs. Some articles in the Desert Sun talk about city officials stepping up water conservation efforts, but they seem to be more about creating a sympathetic appearance than in response to an actual need for conservation.

Articles such as this 2013 piece raise long-term concerns about overpumping, but they aren’t remotely as daunting as analyses looking at the state’s long-term water-supply picture. That’s because they include facts such as these:

The state Department of Water Resources in 1964 estimated that the aquifer, in the first 1,000 feet below ground, had a total capacity of at least 39.2 million acre-feet. Based on that estimate, the aquifer has lost about 13.5 percent of the total since the 1970s.

That’s not good news. But it’s nothing like the problems facing coastal water agencies and those in the Central Valley.

This hugely favorable status quo is why rates at the Desert Water Agency have barely budged in recent years. With a base rate of from $1.16 to $1.83 per 100 cubic feet of drinking water, depending on the community, Coachella Valley water bills are far less than those in San Diego County, which are based on a rate of over $4 per 100 cubic feet, or San Francisco (over $5).

Will we see water power plays?

Water politics in California have been fraught and ugly for decades. The movie “Chinatown” reflects the cutthroat atmosphere of 80 years ago, but the tactics of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in the 1990s are also jaw-dropping. When its largest client — the San Diego County Water Authority — began looking for new supplies, the MWD undertook what the Los Angeles Times called a “clandestine effort to discredit San Diego County water leaders.”

So it wouldn’t be surprising to see wealthy communities in Silicon Valley and the MWD agitate for a statewide market in water, disguising a grab for cheaper water supplies as a “for the greater good” policy change. The economic argument for such markets is clean and lean. But the history of California was shaped by the complex water rights system left over from a century ago. There would be no Palm Springs as we now know it if water rates in the region were affected by outside factors.

A change in basic water rights isn’t just an existential threat to the economy of the Coachella Valley. It would imperil Imperial Country, the mini-agricultural juggernaut in the state’s southeastern corner that thrives because of cheap, grandfathered water rights.

Brutal battles loom in coming years. But in the short term, what we’re likely to see is more bureaucratic maneuvers. This is from the L.A. Daily News via the San Jose Mercury-News:

“… as the long hot summer drags on, more curtailments are likely to affect those who hold even older rights,” said Caren Trgovcich, the board’s deputy director.

“We are continuing to evaluate the hydrology in watersheds. There could be additional action” as early as next Friday, she said.

The mayors, city managers and city council members in the Coachella Valley and Imperial County are likely to be paying close attention.