Westside Drainage Settlement and the San Joaquin River Settlement

Westside Drainage Settlement and the San Joaquin River Settlement

"After being briefed on recently announced concepts to resolve the long perplexing Westside drainage problem, I would like to express my full support for this innovative approach.

This proposed deal would save the taxpayers $2.5 billion and resolve a significant environmental problem on the Westside. More significantly, by eliminating the discharge of drain water into the San Joaquin River , the proposal would help restore the River.

Under the proposal, the public agencies that already benefit from operation of the San Luis Unit would take ownership of San Luis Reservoir, canals, and pumping plants. In exchange, the federal government would be relieved of its court-ordered obligation to drain the selenium-tainted land. In addition, the Westside would relinquish their water contracts, reducing their claim to Central Valley Project water by 400,000 acre-feet. Westland 's Water District would give up an additional 43,000 acre-feet of other water.

This latter element of the proposal is of particular interest to me because it would provide a good opportunity to replace water that will be lost by the Friant contractors as a result of the San Joaquin River Settlement. The Westside's relinquishment of its claim to more than 400,000 acre-feet of CVP water would make available on an annual basis an average of 100,000 acre-feet. This is water that is being pumped from the delta under current export limits, and this excess water could be an excellent source of water to fulfill the water management goals of the San Joaquin River Settlement.

The CVP is already a highly integrated system, and the use of the water that would be relinquished by Westlands to help satisfy the water management goals established by the San Joaquin River Settlement would be just one further step toward integrating the project.

The concepts for a collaborative drainage solution developed by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Westside clearly have the potential for a win for everyone in the Valley. A major environmental problem on the Westside gets solved, the San Joaquin River gets restored, and everyone receives the water they need to continue the economic activity that has made the San Joaquin Valley the bread basket of the world."

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