September 5, 1985

In the midst of the city's drought, Irving Berkowitz thought he had the perfect product to sell - 210,000 gallons of water a day. But instead of a financial coup, Mr. Berkowitz is stuck with more than $50,000 in bills and a black barge in Brooklyn filled with water that he is unable to give away. Mr. Berkowitz, a fuel-oil broker, said he had bought the 210,000 gallons from the city of Peekskill, N.Y., which has a water surplus. The water, he asserted, remains in the hold of a barge because New York City has blocked the sale to commercial users.

The Farm Credit Administration, overseer of the nation's farmer-owned banking system, is considering asking the Reagan Administration for a rescue from a pile-up of bad loans, officials of the agency reported today. The White House, which has been closely watching the deteriorating farm economy all summer, has opposed such assistance on both ideological and budgetary grounds. But loan defaults among farm borrowers have become so widespread that officials may decide to recommend some sort of intervention to President Reagan, according to a White House economic policy official. ''The feeling is we're going to have to do something,'' said the official, who asked not to be named.

''If the United States holds tests of anti-satellite weapons against a target in outer space, the Soviet Union will consider itself free of its unilateral commitment not to place anti-satellite systems in space.

The Economy Congress could adopt trade curbs in defiance of a veto threat because of a growing public alarm over jobs lost to imports, Congressional leaders from both parties warned. Returning lawmakers said Congress seemed headed for a confrontation with the White House on a number of other critical issues, too, ranging from tax revision to military spending to farm prices. [Page A1.] The Farm Credit Adminitration may ask to be rescued, officials of the agency said. The White House has opposed such assistance, which could run in the billions, but defaults are so widespread that some sort of intervention may be recommended to President Reagan, a White House official said. The Farm Credit Administration, which oversees the nation's farmer-owned banking system, is suffering its first losses in decades. [A1.] International

The military contracting business is typically boom or bust, and of late, it has mostly been boom. But the Defense Department's new efforts to rein in spending a bit may be puncturing the boom for some companies. One of those is the Fairchild Republic Company, a subsidiary of Fairchild Industries. This week, the Pentagon proposed to cancel a new Air Force training plane made by Fairchild that is a mainstay of its aircraft plant in Farmingdale, L.I. To be sure, the decision on the T-46A trainer may in large part be a political one and is not yet final. And some analysts predict that the trainer may yet continue to be built at Farmingdale.