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Settlement of long-running water dispute nears

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The path is being cleared for Congress to finally approve a settlement in glacially-paced litigation over water rights to the San Luis Rey River.

This week the Escondido City Council approved amending a settlement agreement signed nearly two years ago that appeared to end 45 years of litigation brought by five North County Indian tribes.

The 1969 lawsuit accused the Vista Irrigation District and the city of Escondido of illegally diverting 90 percent of the river water to an aqueduct. When the 2014 settlement was reached, all that remained was approval from Congress — but that never came.

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Escondido City Attorney Jeff Epp said Friday the delay occurred after the Congressional Budget Office “scored” the legislation as having a fiscal impact because it would enable the tribes to fully deplete a fund created in the late 1980s aimed at ending the dispute.

Because of the positive score, passage of the legislation was effectively blocked. Epp said the decision made little sense since the fund — which has grown to about $50 million — had long ago been set aside to compensate the tribes.

The amendments approved this week provide that the tribes can’t withdraw more than $3.7 million from the fund each year. It is believed the amendment will secure a score of “zero” from the Congressional Budget Office, said Epp, which will enable the legislation to proceed.

Several other lesser amendments, some designed to rectify typos in the original legislation, were also approved.

“It’s been an extremely long time in coming,” Epp said. “It’s way overdue. And we’re very excited about the opportunity of getting it done by the end of the year.”

The dispute began more than a century ago when the federal government awarded rights to the river to local water agencies, even though the tribes relied on the San Luis Rey to supply their land.

The situation worsened by the 1920s, when 90 percent of the water in the river was diverted by dams and transported via canals and pipes to Vista and Escondido The water made farming in far off valleys possible, but left the tribes mostly dry.

In 1988 — nearly 20 years after the Rincon, La Jolla, Pala, Pauma and San Pasqual tribes filed the suit — an initial agreement was reached and Congress enacted the San Luis Rey Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, which recognized the need to provide the tribes with a supplemental water supply. The deal stipulated that 16,000 acre feet of water — roughly the same amount being diverted from the river — should be made available to the tribes annually. But there was little guidance provided about how to do that and where the water would come from.

A breakthrough came in the mid-to-late 2000s when parts of the All-American Canal and the Coachella Canal — which bring water from the Colorado River to parts of Southern California — were lined to stop about 100,000 acre feet of water from seeping into the ground each year.

The 2014 agreement calls for the first 16,000 acre feet of that water savings to be dedicated each year for use by the tribes. Because there’s no pipeline to carry water from the canal to tribal lands, the agreement offsets extra water the tribes can pull from the San Luis Rey.

In late 2014, when it appeared the settlement was about to be finalized, Rincon Tribal Chairman Bo Mazzetti said it was sad that virtually all the tribal leaders who started the fight to reclaim the water in the 1960s have since passed away.

“They didn’t get to see it finished,” he said. “That’s the greatest disappointment. On the other hand, we finally got there. It’s been a long, long fight.

Epp said local officials are hopeful that Congress will approve the legislation before the end of the year.

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