Babbitt Rebukes Feuding Water Districts, Imposes 30-Day ‘Timeout’

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt threatened Friday an unprecedented direct federal intervention in Southern California’s water wars if the various combatants can’t agree on their own.

Obviously irked, Babbitt in a telephone interview described California water planning as being “in disarray.” He said there would be “a very bleak future for California and the Colorado River” without some regional consensus.

Babbitt’s office has been trying to mediate discussions in Washington, D.C. that eventually would allow San Diego to buy surplus water from desert farmers. The water would be transferred through the Metropolitan Water District of Los Angeles.

Officials in San Diego have complained for decades that economic growth is imperiled by the city’s lack of an independent water supply. To address that problem, San Diego has negotiated a deal to buy surplus water from the Imperial Irrigation District.

But before the water can be sold, Imperial must persuade a neighboring district--the Coachella Valley Irrigation District--not to pursue its own claims to any water that Imperial declares as surplus.

The occasion for Babbitt’s anger was the breakdown of talks between the two desert water agencies. Representatives of Imperial and Coachella met Thursday and Friday in Babbitt’s offices. Talks reached an impasse Friday afternoon and Babbitt sent the desert water barons home for “a 30-day timeout.”

Babbitt described himself as angered and disappointed. He said he was not eager to intervene, but said: “We have authorities and we’ll have to begin invoking them.”

He would not specify what action he is contemplating, but the law makes the secretary of the Interior the ultimate arbiter of how much water each of seven Colorado River Basin states is able to take from the river.

About a third of Southern California’s water comes from the Colorado. In fact, because of recent water surpluses, the state has been allowed to take more water out of the river than it is allocated.

The Interior secretary is the person who ultimately must allow such allocations. Babbitt and representatives of the other Colorado River Basin states have complained frequently that California must begin living within its basic allocation because the other states, particularly Arizona and Nevada, are developing rapidly and need more water.

The transfer of water from Imperial Valley to San Diego is seen by regional water officials as a key step in the state’s ability to do just that because it allows the state to use its current allocation more efficiently.

Officials from Imperial and Coachella were en route back to California and were unavailable for comment Friday. Babbitt did not elaborate on what caused the talks between the two long-feuding water districts to break down. The issues in the talks are essentially economic. Imperial Valley could potentially make hundreds of millions of dollars by selling water to the state’s coastal regions. Coachella farmers have long maintained that the Imperial water was stolen from them decades ago and they want it back or, presumably, a share in the profits if it is sold.

Direct intervention by the federal government in such a local water dispute would be politically and legally complicated, but theoretically feasible, according to water law experts. At the least, they say, Babbitt could seriously hinder agencies’ abilities to manage their own affairs.

Babbitt, a former governor and attorney general of Arizona, has long experience with western water issues. Genuine reform of what he and others regard as an anachronistic system is beyond his hope, he said.

“It will require a second coming before that happens,” he said.