L.A. MAY BUY KERN COUNTY WATER; COMPANY'S EXPORT PLAN HAS A.V. OFFICIALS AFRAID OF IMPACTS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Kern County officials are worried about a Santa Monica company's plan to pump well water from old farmland in the northern Antelope Valley and sell it to Los Angeles.

Samda - an American Indian word that means ``wonder'' or ``amazement'' - plans to buy 2,000 acres in Fremont Valley north of Mojave, and pump from it water enough to supply up to 20,000 families a year.

``It's a good project for Los Angeles and it's a responsible one,'' Samda President Cole Frates said. ``You can do these types of projects responsibly.''

The plan needs approval from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power board and the Los Angeles City Council, but DWP officials said they are interested because environmental concerns are forcing the city to reduce its use of water from the eastern Sierra.

The plan calls for the company to spend about $10 million to acquire 2,000 acres, then pump 10,000 acre-feet of water annually, transporting it through a pipeline 1.5 miles to the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

The proposal calls for a 30-year contract to pump the water for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

The company estimates it will be able to sell the water for $280 an acre-foot, compared to $349 an acre-foot the city now pays for water from the Metropolitan Water District.

An acre-foot is 325,872 gallons, enough water to serve two average-size families for one year.

The plan is raising concerns among Kern County officials who believe the project could lower the groundwater table and inhibit future development in Fremont Valley, which is east of Highway 14 about 10 miles north of Mojave.

At the request of Kern County Supervisor Steve Perez, whose district includes Fremont Valley, county attorneys are studying what ordinances could be enacted to give the county a voice in water exportation. At present, the county has no authority or control of water exportation.

``We're cutting into our development in favor of someone else's,'' said Don Maben, field representative for Perez. ``We're highly concerned we are selling our future.''

Keith Dyas, board member of both the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency and the Eastern Kern County Conservation District, said the pumping could lead to environmental problems similar to those experienced in the Owens Valley, from which Los Angeles also pumps well water from farms it bought at the beginning of this century.

The project could lower the water table, kill some of the region's vegetation, create dust problems, and increase pumping costs for other water users, he said.

``I find it objectionable that some other entity would consider pumping water out of there,'' Dyas said. ``Common sense and good neighbor policy say that you don't steal from one basin and put it in another.''

Samda officials said they plan to pump less water than did the ranchers who farmed the area.

From the 1960s through the early 1980s, farmers in the region pumped as much as 60,000 acre-feet a year, according to the company. Agriculture declined in the 1980s when Honda bought up 7,000 acres of farmland for a test track and real estate speculators acquired property, Frates said.

``There is no way to say this will have no impact,'' Frates said. ``What we can say is based on what has happened in the past, we can do a responsible extraction. We think 10,000 acre-feet is a safe yield. If there is economic development, this won't inhibit that.''

The city of Los Angeles receives its water from three sources - its own wells supplies, water purchases from the Metropolitan Water District, and imported water supplies from the Owens Valley/Mono Lake area.

Environmental lawsuits are forcing the DWP to import less water from around Owens Lake, said Peter Kavounas, manager of environmental and legal issues for the DWP.

``We need to keep our options open,'' Kavounas said. ``This project is interesting and worth watching. If done right it could be beneficial and would not harm anyone.''

The Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency, the main importer of California Aqueduct water for this year, has taken no position on the Fremont Valley plan, its general manager said.

AVEK received a presentation on the project from Samda about a month ago, and there will probably be further discussions with Samda as the project progresses, said AVEK General Manager Wallace Spinarski.

AVEK received Samda's environmental documents on the project this week and thus far has not seen anything that might raise concerns, Spinarski said.

``It appears they have done a thorough analysis of the situation,'' Spinarski said.

Spinarski said he doubt his agency has any authority to block the project.

CAPTION(S):

Map

Map: LOS ANGELES AQUEDUCT