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Editorial: A better solution for the Westlands situation

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 6, 2007 at 6:55 am

Here’s an opinion piece from the Contra Costa County Times regarding the potential Westlands water deal:

Despite the formidable environmental and economic challenges facing California’s water policymakers, the federal government was considering granting generous water rights for billions of gallons of water to some politically influential San Joaquin farmers that could make matters worse.

Fortunately for California’s urban users and the Delta, there is no offer of guaranteed water rights. In the latest proposed settlement of a protracted lawsuit, federal officials want to extend to landowners in the Westlands Water District contracts for 1 million acre-feet of water. That is 15 percent of all the federally controlled water in California.

Even if dry weather persists and more water is needed to protect the Delta environment and there are no new reservoirs or other supplies, Westlands farmers would receive a substantial flow of fresh water. However, the water deal is not as harmful as one proposed earlier in which Westlands would get water ahead of urban users. Under the new proposal, Westlands farmers would be subject to cutbacks in dry years and would not be unduly favored over other users.

However, the article points out that this is not the only solution:

Another way to resolve the suit would be to retire about 200,000 acres of tainted Westlands cropland and clean up salty runoff from surrounding areas. This solution would cost the federal government an estimated $2.6 billion. Extending liberal water contracts to Westlands farmers lets the federal government off the hook for that expense. But the cost to the Delta environment and millions of California water users could be far greater unless water cutbacks are fairly distributed.

It would make more sense for the federal government to pay off Westlands farmers for the damage done to their property because of a lack of proper drainage in the federal Central Valley Project. Granting the farmers access to huge supplies of water in exchange for them paying to clean up their own farmland raises questions.

Retiring problematic farmland in the Central Valley would also allow this water to be transferred or sold to other districts facing shortages, a solution that has been proposed by many groups, including California Water Impact Network.

To read the full text of this article from the Contra Costa County Times, click here.

August 6, 2007 · Filed Under Central Valley Project, Westlands Water District