Which Way, L.A.?

No Deal in Desert, Nor Water from Colorado River

Nothing is more important to California than water, and nothing is more complicated or harder to explain than how it is imported to, and distributed in, Southern California. A third of that water comes from the Colorado River. Yet, in less than a month, the Bush administration will cut off the surplus flowing from the river to the Southland. After seven years of negotiations, Imperial Valley farmers have refused to sell the water, even at 20 times more than it cost them. The result could be a shortage of water from the Tehachapi Mountains to the Mexican border. We-ll hear why farmers turned down the offer and what it could mean for a notoriously thirsty region from former Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg, who helped negotiate the failed deal, and Lloyd Allen, board vice president of the Imperial Irrigation District. Reporter-s Notebook: Stories of Terror from Guatemala The population of Guatemala is 10 million people, but 10 percent live in the United States, half of them in Southern California. One of the reasons for the massive exodus is the extreme brutality of a 36-year civil war that didn-t end until 1996. In his new book, Silence on the Mountain, Daniel Wilkinson writes about the search for truth in Guatemala.