House Votes Overhaul of Water Rights : Congress: Bill would loosen agriculture’s control of Central Valley Project supplies. The measure advances to joint conference committee.

The House passed a far-reaching Central Valley Project reform bill Thursday that seeks to loosen the grip of the state’s powerful agriculture industry on the largest single water supplier in California and allocate more water to cities and damaged fish and wildlife habitats.

The bill also would allow water contractors to sell or transfer their water to state agencies or private organizations, restrict new irrigation contracts and encourage conservation.

The passage of the controversial bill is a major step in the state’s convoluted and highly territorial water politics. And for the first time it catapults the proposed Central Valley Project reforms into a joint House-Senate conference committee where the protests of Central Valley farming interests will be diluted.

The overhaul of the sprawling Central Valley Project, which controls 20% of the state’s water supply, would put environmental concerns on an equal footing with agriculture.

“We have crossed the threshold,” said Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), chairman of the House Interior Committee and a major proponent of the reform legislation.

“This is very real progress and will have a profound effect on the direction of the CVP,” Miller said after the voice vote.

But the bill faces tough political realities in the conference negotiations. The Senate has already passed a bill sponsored by Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) that is more favorable to Central Valley growers. The growers have been reluctant to give up control of their water supplies, which are guaranteed by long-term contracts.

But Sens. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) and J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) are strong proponents of restructuring the Central Valley Project and favor the approach of the Miller bill.

The Bush Administration, however, citing concerns about federal interference in the management of California water policy, has threatened a veto of the House bill.

In late May, the bill came out of the Interior Committee with a unanimous endorsement. But in the last few days, congressmen from the Central Valley withdrew their support when it became clear that many issues remained unresolved.

Rep. Richard H. Lehman (D-Sanger) during floor debate described Miller’s original bill as “a declaration of war on the San Joaquin Valley” and said that “no balance had been struck” during recent negotiations.

Farm organizations reacted angrily to passage of the House bill. One group in Fresno said it would “devastate the farm community economies of the Central Valley and thousands of farm families and farm workers who rely on the CVP water supplies for their livelihood.”

Barry Nelson, coordinator for Share the Water, a coalition of environmentalists, fisherman and duck hunters, said: “This is definitely a step forward--primarily because growers have always been able to kill CVP bills before they got this far.”