Under the agreement Metropolitan delivers a designated amount of its State Water Project water to Semitropic where it will be used to irrigate crops and enable farmers there to forgo groundwater pumping. The water not pumped from Semitropic's underground is designated as Metropolitan's stored water. When Metropolitan wants to retrieve that water, Semitropic will return it either with its own State Water Project water, groundwater pumping or both. Metropolitan only has to pay for improvements during years it elects to store water. No district money is spent on the program.
Discussions still are under way for other banking partners to store water at Semitropic.
There is 65 percent of storage space left for other districts, and Metropolitan has the option to purchase more storage in the future. In getting the agreement to the table, both parties admit there was serious criticism from outside sources. Reed said Metropolitan board members were concerned about storing water out of Southern California, and the agency is currently looking to develop more storage in that area to allay those concerns. A complete explanation of the banking agreement to district landowners put most fears to rest, he said. Neighboring water districts, however, were concerned, he said.