The Agreement of Ancient Wranglers : WATER WATCH: Building toward an exciting new consensus for California

Old adversaries who have battled over water for generations have produced a brief declaration of intent that should be cause for dancing in the streets--even if it rains.

A group representing urban, farm and environmental interests, so determined to be low-key that it has no formal name, has produced a manifesto that has all sides agreeing on a range of issues from environmental protection to water banking.

It took nearly six years of severe drought to get the ancient wranglers to agree even on general principles of the way California’s water will be allocated.

Some observers have speculated that a good drenching would relax the pressure for changes in water policy imposed by the drought. That speculation may be put to a test, because some meteorologists have been hinting recently that the coming rainy season could be as wet as the El Nino winter of 1982-83.

But it may well be that, politically as well as hydrologically, California has gone too far in exploring new water policies to turn back.

The first test of that premise is only weeks away. Gov. Pete Wilson committed himself early to sale and purchase of water as a way to stretch scarce supplies as far as possible in the absence of quick or easy ways to increase supplies.

A bill by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) to allow farmers to sell water to parched cities whether rural irrigation agencies like it or not passed the Assembly some weeks ago with stunning ease.

The Katz bill is essential to the smooth working of a free, or nearly free, market in water--the logical long-range goal of Wilson’s approach. But the water agencies, which have not lost all of their political muscle, prevailed on Wilson to at least try to weaken the Katz bill.

Since then, talks involving the same interests that produced last week’s declaration of principles have restored some of the Katz bill’s momentum, with Wilson’s acquiescence and perhaps outright approval.

The Katz legislation may, in fact, be the first best chance to start turning some of the principles into a blueprint for practice. It is now silent on the environment. Some of what the urban, environmental and agricultural interests have agreed to in principle should be added, along with changes to calm water agency concerns without softening its water marketing provision.

This would not only put California on a path to wiser water policy but also give Wilson a running start in translating his so far impressive record of drought emergency management into long-range policies to prevent emergencies in the future.