Sacramento Bee
Stuart Leavenworth
December 09, 2000
In a pact that could end 30 years of water wrangling, an East Bay utility has tentatively agreed to abandon claims on the American River and work with local leaders on a project to share water from the Sacramento River.
The agreement, unveiled Friday, still must be negotiated in full and approved by the elected boards of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, the city of Sacramento and Sacramento County.
If it holds, it could end EBMUD's attempts to draw as many as 48.7 billion gallons each year from the American River and also provide a new source of water for both the East Bay and the Sacramento region.
"This is a fabulous breakthrough," said Jim Jones, a former president of Save the American River Association, which has long feared that EBMUD's plans could hurt fisheries and recreation in the American River.
"This could be historic," said Roger Dickinson, a Sacramento County supervisor who helped broker the agreement. "This protects everything we value about the American River. Plus, we can come up with a surface water supply for south Sacramento County."
Hammered out Thursday in meetings organized by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in Washington, the water agreement calls on Sacramento city and county to work with EBMUD on building a water withdrawal facility on the Sacramento River near Freeport.
Once that is built, the utility expects to take 32 billion gallons each year from the river, which would be pumped to the Folsom South Canal via a new pipeline dug east across Sacramento County.
In turn, the county hopes to exercise its water rights and withdraw about 45 million gallons a day from the river, which would be used to replenish aquifers and supply water in south Sacramento County, said County Executive Terry Schutten.
The city of Sacramento also hopes to use some water for the southern part of its jurisdiction, City Manager Bob Thomas said.
City officials said they were stunned that, in a matter of two weeks, EBMUD and Sacramento came together to agree on terms that had eluded the two regions for decades.
"This is a big step for them," said Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, who made her first mayoral trip to Washington for the hastily called summit. "This is a fundamental shift by East Bay MUD, and they should be commended."
"We are excited," said John Coleman, president of the East Bay utility's board of directors. "This agreement meets our needs in dry years. It gets us off the American, and it helps with regional needs. It's a true win-win."
Even so, the pact faces some potential obstacles, including Delta environmentalists who often object to new water diversions, and water contractors in the Central Valley who have their own designs for the fought-over flows of the Sacramento.
The three main parties also must sort out logistics — where water will be shipped and stored, how it will be treated and who pays for it.
"Cost is a big issue — how we divide costs," Dickinson said.
A federal-state partnership called Cal-Fed could help with some of the money, he said, although Cal-Fed has recently been hobbled by funding setbacks in Congress and in the state Legislature.
A utility with 1.2 million customers, EBMUD has long prized its claim on American River water, which compares in clarity with the snow melt that the utility gets from the Mokelumne River.
In 1970, EMBUD contracted with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to provide as many as 48.7 billion gallons of water yearly from the American at Nimbus Dam.
But for decades, the utility has been blocked by litigation, court rulings and political maneuvering, despite paying an estimated $20 million for its water contracts.
All that time, the two sides lobbed insults at each other, with Sacramento leaders mocking the "champagne tastes" of the East Bay, and EBMUD suggesting the capital was risking its health by drawing water from the less-than-pristine Sacramento River.
Things finally changed this year, when Feinstein asked the Interior Department to broker a solution. In October, reports by state and federal officials showed that — to the consternation of EBMUD — treated water from the Sacramento would be cheaper and just as safe as water from the American.
After the November elections, the makeup of the EBMUD board shifted and it took a new look at its options. "We had to re-evaluate what was politically feasible and what was not," Coleman said.
Thursday's meeting in Feinstein's office was "very interesting and very intense" said Fargo, who attended along with officials from EMBUD, the Interior Department and Sacramento city and county, as well as two environmentalists.
According to Dickinson, much of the discussion involved how environmental groups would respond to the idea of a new withdrawal from the Sacramento River.
So far, most local environmentalists seem "very pleased" with the turn of events, said Ron Stork, an activist with Friends of the River who attended Thursday's meeting. Outside of Sacramento, he said, some environmentalists have mixed feelings and are waiting to review details of the water project.
Those details could be coming soon. Ever since July, Feinstein has been pressing to get an agreement in place before a new presidential administration takes office.
As a result, city and county officials hope to complete a memorandum of understanding with EBMUD by mid-January, when it would be voted on by elected leaders. Meanwhile, the Interior Department hopes to sign a "record of decision" on the plan by Jan. 19.
If the negotiations fall apart, federal officials say EBMUD can go back to its original plan of taking water from the American River water at Nimbus. Feinstein is hopeful that won't happen.
"This is a giant step forward," Feinstein said in a statement. "It is an example of two regions that fought for 30 years over water finally saying we are going to work together."
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