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WATER TRANSFER POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

by Stephanie Pincetl, PhD.
Visiting Professor, Institute of the Environment, UCLA
and Malissa Hathaway McKeith
Citizens United for Resources and the Environment ("CURE"), Inc.

Water transfers from agriculture to urban areas are being promoted as a
way to meet increased urban water demands, and as a more economically
efficient use of water. The transfers are predicated on the assumption
that there is insufficient current water for urban areas to guarantee
availability for new development. The following proposal advocates that
future water transfers should serve as a tool to accelerate urban
conservation and the institutionalization of policies to promote better
water management. Further, any long-term water transfers should require
specific implementation plans and sufficient financing to assist rural
areas in either maintaining their rural nature or evolving into a more
diverse economy appropriate to the 21st Century.

Water Transfer Beneficiaries

Water transfers to urban areas should be contingent upon adoption of
water conservation measures in the receiving communities. Water transfer
agreements should require the implementation of Best Management
Practices for water conservation in the areas that are receiving the water
transfer. These include, for illustrative purposes,
* Any water delivery to new development should require that units built
will not consume more than a specified number of gallons per day per
person
* Any water delivery to new developments should require dual plumbing
so that potable water is not used for irrigation purposes
* Any water delivery to new development should require the installation
of landscaping that needs no more than local annual rainfall to sustain
itself
* Industrial water users should employ Best Management Practices
("BMPs") for each industry
* The legislature should adopt tax incentives or other subsidies should
be available to developers or homeowners to implement such BMPs

Such policies would substantially reduce water usage while instilling
new values in urban water users.

Beyond individual household level and industrial water consumption,
water transfer agreements should also be dependent on the implementation
of Best Management Practices with respect to storm water and dry weather
run off recapture for all new construction. For example, new
construction should be required to ensure storm and dry weather runoff is
captured and recharged. This can be done through the use of permeable
surfaces, cisterns and other techniques.

Water in the Place of Origin

To date, the assumption that an acre-foot of water is more valuably
utilized in urban areas than in agriculture inadequately considers
possible long-term impacts to the areas from where water is being taken and
the overall value of maintaining a rural landscape in California for
agricultural and environmental purposes. These transfers also do not
sufficiently examine the potential for on-farm water conservation rather
than the fallowing or development of farm land for non-agricultural
purposes. Thus, current market analysis ignores future potential scenarios
of changing agriculture toward more water efficient technologies and
crops, and the less tangible and poorly studied aspects of the overall
value to society of maintaining rural landscapes and rural communities.

Moreover, limited study has been done on the long-term impacts to the
resilience of the food supply chain in the U.S. resulting from acreage
being taken from production in California, suggesting caution is in
order to avoid unintended consequences. 2005 is the first year in which
the United States imported more food than it exported, a trend that has
potential security consequences. Further, no real evaluation has been
done on labor impacts of fallowing of farmland that could result in more
migration directly to urban areas. In contrast, Europe has been
promoting the importance of rural farming and the value of ensuring the
long-term survival of agriculture. This has been done to preserve rural
landscapes, ensure local agricultural production and tradition, and to
buffer any unforeseen global shocks to the agricultural supply chain.

Therefore, water transfers should advocate and require a balancing of
societal values. These public policy considerations rarely are explored
as part of legislation. Identifying minimum requirements to be
included in legislation might include the following:

* Any water transfers must include the adoption of Best Management
Practices for water conservation by the receiving community
* Any permanent water transfer (more than 10 years) must include a
detailed analysis of macro and micro-socio economic consequences and the
set aside of 15 percent of revenue for long-term planning and mitigation
* Any water transfers must conduct a complete analysis of where
substitute crops will be grown, including study on land ownership and labor
conditions, the environmental impacts on that exporting location, and
local water supply and availability

Adopting balanced economic and water strategies at the Place of Origin
and Receiving communities will sustain long-term water availability in
California. The Southern California Water Community ("SCWC") can play
a pivotal role in advancing these values because SCWC provides a
platform for a candid discussion of these many competing values by the
impacted parties. Any legislation on water transfers will be contentious
because it is frequently driven by special interests and lobbyists rather
than long-term public policy considerations. A detailed and balanced
proposal by the SCWC could provide the impetus and cover to those
legislators who are willing to tackle the harder planning and infrastructure
problems facing our State, including the movement of water.