Promised 5 percent not enough for banks to lend money

By WES SANDER
Capital Press

While the U.S. Department of Interior scrambles to augment California water deliveries, irrigators and farm lenders say the efforts won't improve this year's circumstances for farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Federal project deliveries from the Delta to irrigators on the San Joaquin Valley's westside are likely to rise higher than the 5 percent floor announced by the Interior Department on Feb. 26.

But the minimal guarantee is all farmers can bank on, said Sarah Woolf, spokeswoman for Westlands Water District, which encompasses a large proportion of growers on the westside, where cutbacks caused by drought and species protections have put farmers in desperate straits.

The 5 percent was based on conditions by Feb. 1, assuming no further rain or snow this season. It will grow after February's near-average precipitation, along with a list of actions that Interior said will augment deliveries by boosting efficiencies in the system.

But the end result is uncertain, and none of those assurances will benefit south-of-Delta irrigators this year, Woolf said.

"Right now guys are deciding what they're going to plant," she said. "That 5 percent is what's on paper, and it doesn't guarantee the water supply that banks feel comfortable with. They're very conservative about the westside of the valley."

Also on Feb. 26, California's Department of Water Resources announced a 15 percent delivery estimate from the State Water Project. That figure would constitute the state's lowest-ever deliveries, although the agency said average rainfall for the rest of the season could increase deliveries to 45 percent.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who had threatened to amend a Senate jobs bill to set deliveries to westside irrigators at 40 percent, said she was happy with the federal announcement, but not totally satisfied.

"I will watch this situation carefully and I am placing my proposed amendment on hold," Feinstein said in a statement. "However, I reserve the right to bring it back should it become necessary.

"It is my belief that this effort, when carried out by Interior, means that south-of-Delta agricultural water users can expect the equivalent of a 40 percent federal water allocation," Feinstein said.

But Ken Graff, president and CEO of Farm Credit West, a cooperative lender in California, said Feinstein's amendment could have provided the guarantee of sufficient deliveries that Interior's actions aren't offering.

"When it's just constant uncertainty, it's very difficult," Graff said.

This year's involvement by the Interior Department, mostly involving communication and inter-agency coordination roles, is new. Last year, the Obama administration signaled a shift from previous policy by making Delta issues a focus at Interior, appointing the agency's second-in-command, Deputy Secretary David Hayes, as point man on Delta issues.

The reshuffling of management has so far only added to a sense of instability, Graff said.

"I'm not sure just where everything is at," he said. "This whole thing is in a state of flux."

In December, Interior announced it was formulating a plan, in cooperation with six agencies and the state of California, to enhance movement and efficiency in the state's conveyance systems, thereby easing the crunch to irrigators from reduced Delta pumping.

The agency used the announcement of its delivery estimate, which came several days later than expected, to point out some recently hashed-out elements of the plan.

Those include securing agreements to transfer more urban water for farm use; more precise management of Delta pumping to fit with flow requirements in the Delta's Old and Middle rivers; increasing east-to-west transfers across the San Joaquin Valley; and increased deliveries from the federal Banks Pumping Plant in the Delta, which the agency says is possible under restrictions aimed at preserving salmon and the tiny Delta smelt.

The plan elements were developed "through intense discussions over a couple of weeks," said Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff. "They were identified as the new actions thought to have the greatest potential to result in additional water for west side farmers.

"This list of measures is being more fully developed at this time on a very expedited schedule," Barkoff said.

Interior says its efforts can increase irrigators' supplies by up to 200,000 acre-feet for south-of-Delta irrigators, possibly adding another 10 percentage points to their allocations.

Furthermore, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement that USDA had sent a team to work with local offices "to ensure that our farm and community programs are ready to be deployed and to ensure our conservation programs will provide more water in the valley over the long term."

Unfortunately, none of this planning will help west side farmers with their imminent planting decisions, said Sarah Woolf of Westlands.

"To date we have not seen anything occur from that work plan," she said. "As far as improving water supply to this region, I have not seen anything."