SUPPLY OF WATER DRYING UP UNDERGROUND LEVELS TOO LOW AS AREA GROWS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - With the population growing and farm irrigation up 40 percent in five years, the Antelope Valley's underground water supply is shrinking.

Los Angeles County, the largest single supplier of water to homes and businesses in the valley, is seeking a court decision that would place limits on how much well water can be pumped annually by farmers, water agencies and others who use significant amounts of water.

``Our engineers tell us we are in overdraft. The withdrawal of water exceeds intake to the point where there are measurable and physical and detrimental consequences, in this case land subsidence, lowering of well levels, the worsening of water quality from wells that you have. These are all signs that there is trouble,'' said Fred Pfaeffle, senior deputy county counsel.

The county's proposed action has other water purveyors concerned.

``That course of action isn't what our district prefers to try and get some agreement on groundwater management in the valley because (the court decision) takes a very long time and is very expensive. What they will end up doing is filing a cross-complaint against everybody in the valley who pumps water. Potentially there could be thousands of parties,'' Palmdale Water District General Manager Dennis LaMoreaux said.

The county's request, filed Sept. 30, stems from lawsuits filed by two Kern County farming companies, one in 1999 and the other in 2001, against Antelope Valley water districts and government agencies seeking priority rights to the water under their Antelope Valley farmland.

A Riverside County Superior Court judge presiding over the case has urged the farmers and the agencies to negotiate a settlement, but those efforts have so far been unsuccessful.

In the meantime, county officials said, conditions have changed dramatically since the litigation began, including a substantial increase in groundwater pumping to supply a resurgence of valley farming and more housing development.

``(In) the past five years, agricultural water production from the basin increased dramatically, by over 40 percent, and is expected to continue to grow. New urban development will also add further demands on the basin. In the long term, the basin cannot sustain the current and expected water depletion,'' county attorneys said in a court filing.

The county now is calling for adjudication, or a judicial determination of the groundwater rights of public and private parties in the Antelope Valley.

County attorneys are asking the judge to allow the county to file another lawsuit against other water users in the Antelope Valley in an attempt to bring everyone to the table.

``We are left with a situation where there is litigation that only involves certain players, so even if you resolve it, you can't impose a solution against all the users,'' Pfaeffle said. ``What good is it to come into an agreement and have a judgment with some players when you have others that need to be a part of the solution? That's why we are forced to file this action.''

The county said a so-called cross-complaint would have to be filed against ``all significant property owners and extractors of water from the basin,'' which would mean that 200 to 300 new parties would need to be added to the case. There are about 70 mutual water companies in the Antelope Valley, the county estimates.

Present defendants include the county waterworks district, the city of Lancaster, the Palmdale Water District, the Quartz Hill Water District, the Antelope Valley Water Co. and the Rosamond Community Services District. Other defendants, including the Palm Ranch Irrigation District in west Palmdale, have already settled out of the case.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Randy Tranbarger is expected to rule on the county's motion in November.

Attorneys for the two farming companies, Diamond Farming Co. and Wm. Bolthouse Farms Inc., did not return calls last week for comment.

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