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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Actually, the Bureau is
contracting to deliver 1.5 million acre feet of more developed water than
exists, and controlled by it, rather than the 1 million mentioned in the
article. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Byron<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>High Country News </span></font></b><b><font
size=2 color=black><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Vol.
37 No. 15 | August 22, 2005</span></font></b> <font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.PrintableArticle?article_id=15720">http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.PrintableArticle?article_id=15720</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h2><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>Super-sized
dam could be a cash register for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>
farmers<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>by
Hilary Watts<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<h5><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>New
federal contracts give water districts more than they need<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h5>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>At a time
when some dam engineers are biting the environmental bullet and tearing down
the concrete that once defined their existence, the Bureau of Reclamation is
trying to figure out how to make the largest dam in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> even bigger. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
Bureau is in the process of renewing its 25-year contracts with the more than
200 water districts that receive water from the 20 dams and reservoirs that
make up the Central Valley Project, or CVP. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
Bureau has been able to make full deliveries to the districts in only 13 of the
last 17 years. But late last year, Reclamation Chief John Keys pledged to
deliver full quantities to water districts under the new contracts. At the same
time, the Bureau has promised to meet growing urban water demands and restore
the San Francisco Bay Delta under the CALFED program (HCN, 9/30/02: Delta
Blues). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Doing all
this will require expanding dams or developing other water projects, all at
taxpayer expense. Ironically, this could give water districts more water than
they can actually use, at incredibly cheap prices: $15 for an acre-foot, or
325,851 gallons. Cities can pay between eight and 33 times that. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Although
most irrigation districts say they just want to make their supplies more
reliable, some critics claim that the districts will be able to market their
extra water to thirsty cities. The watchdog organization Environmental Working
Group speculates in a March report that the new contracts "will set up the
districts to reap windfall profits by reselling water at much higher
prices." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>More
water than land<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Essentially, Reclamation has committed to delivering about 1 million
more acre-feet of water than is available in the Central Valley Project today.
To capture that water, the agency is considering an array of possibilities:
enlarging either Shasta Dam near <st1:City w:st="on">Redding</st1:City>, Los
Vaqueros Dam in the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType> area, or Friant Dam near <st1:City w:st="on">Fresno</st1:City>;
or building a brand-new dam northwest of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Yuba
City</st1:City></st1:place>. The Bureau is also contemplating storing water
on islands in the Bay Delta or in underground aquifers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The most
likely option, because of its comparatively cheap cost, is raising Shasta Dam.
Currently, the reservoir can hold more than 4.5 million acre-feet of water.
Adding another 6.5 to 18.5 feet to the dam will increase its storage capacity
by 6 percent to 14 percent. The environmental impact statement on the
dam-raising should be finished by 2007. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>One of
the biggest beneficiaries of a taller Shasta Dam will be Westlands Water
District, arguably the largest agricultural district in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>. With more than
600,000 acres and nearly 600 farms, Westlands receives 14 percent of the water
in the CVP. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But to
cope with dwindling supplies in dry years, Westlands, like many water
districts, has fallowed land and lined ditches with concrete. Farmers in
Westlands have already taken 11 percent of their land out of production, and
the Bureau of Reclamation is now considering fallowing another 39 percent
because it is contaminated with selenium (HCN, 4/14/03: Westlands farmers sell
out). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Nonetheless,
Westlands’ new contract will guarantee it the same amount of water it was
promised 25 years ago. "That’s the irony of all this," says Hal
Candee, senior attorney with Natural Resources Defense Council.
"They’re proposing to renew the contract at the full amount, while
simultaneously the same agency wants to take half the land out of production."
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Rep.
George Miller, D-Calif., who has long pushed to reform the CVP, has raised
concerns about the districts reselling their water. In a February letter to
Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Miller asked whether the government was
essentially trying to "outsource the management of the CVP water supply to
current CVP contractors — who collect substantial personal profits from
sales." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bureau
spokesman Jeff McCracken says the view that water districts will sell any
excess water is "probably an illusion." He says, "No one is getting
rich selling CVP water." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Will
water flow south? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The most
likely customer for water is the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California, which supplies water to 18 million people in <st1:City w:st="on">Los
Angeles</st1:City> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Diego</st1:City></st1:place>.
After <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> agreed in 2003 to end its
overuse of <st1:place w:st="on">Colorado River</st1:place> water, the agency
has been scouting out replacement supplies within the state. Metropolitan has
tried to lease Central Valley Project water several times, though it has never
actually completed a deal. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In 2002,
Metropolitan signed a $125 per acre-foot deal with one CVP customer, the
Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District north of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place>.
But the agreement only allows Metropolitan to lease water from farmers whose
rights pre-date the water project — and only during drought years.
Metropolitan is still interested in pursuing actual CVP water. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We’d
consider any seller," says James Roberts, the chief deputy general counsel
for Metropolitan. One hurdle that has kept his agency from pursuing CVP water
more aggressively is the $50 to $60 per acre-foot fees the Bureau would impose
on such transfers. Those, he says, "would put that seller at quite a
disadvantage." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>That’s
likely to change, however, as demand for water increases and the market gets
tighter during the next 25 years. Says Candee, "It’s safe to say
that heavily subsidized CVP water is an extremely valuable asset for any
irrigation district." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h4><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
author writes from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Paonia</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Colorado</st1:State></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h4>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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