Twenty years ago, CURE began publishing its blog “What Price Water” in the
wake of the largest ever transfer of water from Imperial Valley farms to San Diego after
a long multi-state, multi-party battle over the Colorado River reminiscent of what we are
witnessing today. Known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement (“QSA”), this so-
called “landmark” deal was intended to be the “water war that ended all water wars”.
The QSA was promoted as a restoration solution to the Salton Sea and a mechanism
by which monies flowing from the deal would help Imperial farmers implement
conservation measures. We need only look at the current battle over an even more
depleted Colorado River to know how those intentions failed.
In 2003, CURE proposed that the QSA contracts specifically provide that for
every dollar San Diego paid for Imperial’s water, ten cents would go to Salton Sea
restoration and ten cents would go to macro community development, i.e., a four year
college, a quality hospital, and better infrastructure for one of the poorest areas of
California. Over time, the allocation of those funds would have generated hundreds of
millions of dollars to address environmental and economic impacts for the benefit of the
entire region. Today, Imperial Valley is still plagued with bad roads, under served
schools, and inadequate health care requiring residents be transported to Riverside
County for care. The Sea is virtually dead and air quality is being “mitigated” by the use
of hay bales rather than restored habitat. The “promises” made by federal, state and
local officials to induce Imperial to sign the deal evaporated as soon as the QSA ink
dried.
Worse yet, the QSA triggered more unsustainable growth and water demands in
urban areas. Buoyed by the prospects that the QSA freed up more water for
development, Nevada, Arizona and Southern California continued permitting homes
built on “paper” water. Recently, residents of housing developments outside Scottsdale
Arizona began paying to truck in water when water supply was cut, and farmers once
again are being asked to fallow productive land in return for large cash payments. The
2003 assurances that the QSA would be the last “Ag to urban” transfer proved untrue.
As one former Bureau of Reclamation employee quipped: “Sending water to San Diego
solved nothing. The QSA was like giving opium to a drug addict.”
The current Colorado River negotiations are mostly patterned on the decades old
QSA without any policy discussion over why that deal was shortsighted and failed to
offer a more permanent solution. There has been no critical analysis of just how much
food the United States should grow domestically and the consequences of fallowing
more farm land. Similarly, the Coachella Valley - home of Larry Ellison’s tennis ranch
and the now famous rock concerts - has never reckoned with just what a diminished
Salton Sea will mean for its economic and public health future. These are just two
externalities not factored into the current negotiations over price per acre foot.
The United States will not let the Colorado River “dead pool” this decade. In the
end, the parties will find a solution tied to how much money the farmers can leverage in
return for fallowing land. Simply put, negotiators have yet to reach a high enough price
in the supply and demand calculation. And yes, the lawyers will “saber rattle” and
inevitably litigation will be filed so that hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on
attorney fees and lobbyists. That’s what occurred for years after the QSA was executed
as discussed in a recent book entitled “The Morality of Deceit.”
Admittedly, some water municipal agencies have taken steps to reduce urban water usage (though substantial quantities still flow to the ocean after rain) and some jurisdictions limit housing absent a twenty year source of sustainable water supply But mostly, the
Colorado River basin states, water officials, and politicians have squandered the last
two decades ignoring reality rather than addressing the true cost of allocating limited
resources for the long-term. Let’s hope that shortsightedness changes before the next “crisis” is upon the Western United States.