The future of water in California is a well-known point of contention. Now the history of water has become a subject of concern.

State budget problems have driven the University of California to seek a new home for the Water Resources Center Archives, a repository of research and historical documents unique in the nation.

The archives, housed at UC Berkeley, hold thousands of studies, maps and photographs documenting the struggle over water in California and throughout the arid West. For decades it has served as a shrine for engineers, lawyers and academics working to understand and improve the management of water, California's most precious resource.

Though housed at UC Berkeley, the archives are funded by the UC Office of the President as a systemwide resource. The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the president's office recently said that, to save money, the archives must be moved by June 30, 2010.

Trouble is, no university has stepped forward to adopt the library and its $230,000 annual cost. Supporters worry this treasure will be mothballed.

"We've got to find a way to keep this going," said Jay Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis and professor of environmental engineering.

Lund said he'd like to see the archives at UC Davis. But he's unaware of any serious effort to make that happen.

Unlike many UC campus libraries, this archive is open to anyone. Users aren't required to have a UC faculty or student affiliation to gain access.

"So long as it's available for people who need to go and do serious in-depth research, the market for that kind of an archive is more in Northern California, with the center of gravity being more around Sacramento," said Lund, who also is a member of the archive advisory board.

Dan Dooley, UC vice president of Agriculture and Natural Resources, announced plans to move the library in an Oct. 2 letter. He did not consult the advisory board, which upset many board members.

"It would just be a shame if it's lost as a resource for the people of California," said Kevin Knuuti, chief of the engineering division for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District. "It's the location that documents the history of water in California, and California history is based on water."

Knuuti said the Corps regularly consults archive documents for ongoing technical work about flood control in the Sacramento area.

Dooley, himself a water lawyer before joining the UC system last year, said he understands the importance of the archive and is confident it will find a home. He called a Nov. 6 meeting of advisers to discuss its future.

The decision to move the archives resulted from a 20 percent state budget cut to systemwide UC programs, Dooley said. Archive expenses primarily cover salaries of four full-time employees who manage the library, including librarians with unique expertise in water.

"It's clearly a valuable resource and one that we really should make every effort to maintain for future generations," Dooley said.

However, he said, "Our division is quite clearly not in the business of running libraries. We made a judgment that we need to organize differently."

The archives are technically overseen by the Center for Water Resources, based at UC Riverside, which primarily makes grants for research purposes.

That center will be closed permanently by Dec. 31, Dooley said, saving about $1 million a year. Its functions will move to other UC programs.

The archive will be spun off. It's unclear how much of its UC-funded budget will go with it, and how much must be covered by the new host. Dooley was noncommittal on that point, saying it could be negotiated with a new host.

He said if the archive ends up at another UC campus library, those librarians could manage it. That could mean layoffs for the archive's specialists.

Lund noted that every UC campus is dealing with budget problems, so there is little money to absorb the archive.

Peter Gleick, another archive board member and president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, said moving the archive will probably cost more than its annual budget.

"We live in a world where this kind of library still serves an irreplaceable purpose," he said. "Understanding how we got into our water mess is critical to getting out of it."

Call The Bee's Matt Weiser, (916) 321-1264.