You are now in Colorado River Basin News category.

All-American Canal in Imperial County

Study to Assess Regional Pipeline for Delivering Colorado River Water

A new study will explore the viability of a regional pipeline to transfer water from the Colorado River to benefit multiple users in San Diego County and across the Southwest.

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved funds for the two-year study at its June 27 Board meeting. The pipeline system is one of a handful of ideas being discussed by San Diego County water leaders to enhance partnerships and solutions that make sense locally and more broadly as part of Governor Newsom’s Water Portfolio Program to develop resiliency statewide.

Regional pipeline

The Water Authority’s upcoming study will look at a regional conveyance system that could move Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) transfer water directly between the Imperial Valley and San Diego. The Colorado River Aqueduct currently conveys the QSA water through Riverside County before it flows to San Diego.

“It may be an idea whose time has come,” said Erik Ortega, president of the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors, referring to a proposed regional conveyance system.

Creating a pipeline to transfer Colorado River water to the San Diego region has been studied periodically over decades.

But the new study is focused on how a regional pipeline could provide multiple benefits as part of a long-term water management strategy for California and the Southwest.

Water storage

The expanded review will consider a system that could create much-needed storage opportunities for the IID that could support agriculture while addressing critical issues like the Salton Sea and the need for more renewable energy development.

Graphic shows three proposed regional pipeline routes to deliver Colorado River Water

Map shows three potential routes for a proposed regional pipeline system that would move Quantification Settlement Agreement water directly from the Imperial Valley to San Diego. Two of the routes (the light blue and purple lines) follow a southern route. The third proposed route, (shown in both a yellow and darker blue line) follows a northern path. Graphic: Water Authority

Three pipeline routes

The pipeline under study would be designed at a capacity to convey the QSA water, which in 2021 will reach its full amount of 280,000 acre-feet of water annually. The current Water Transfer Agreement between IID and the Water Authority continues to 2047. But both agencies can agree to extend the transfer another 30 years to 2077.

As the study gets under way, there are three routes under consideration. Each of those routes would connect to the tail end of the All-American Canal where it meets the Westside Main Canal in the southwest corner of the Imperial Valley.

Two of the routes would follow a southern corridor between the Imperial Valley and San Diego, with one route over the mountains paralleling the U.S./Mexico border and the other tunneling underneath the mountains. Both routes would lead to the San Vicente Reservoir in San Diego.

The third and northernmost route would follow the Westside Main Canal toward the Salton Sea, then flow past Borrego Springs, and through the mountains. It would eventually connect to the Water Authority’s Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant in San Marcos.

Study To Assess Regional Pipeline For Delivering Colorado River Water

A new study will explore the viability of a regional pipeline to transfer water from the Colorado River to benefit multiple users in San Diego County and across the Southwest. The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved funds for the two-year study at its June 27 Board meeting. The pipeline system is one of a handful of ideas being discussed by San Diego County water leaders to enhance partnerships and solutions that make sense locally and more broadly as part of Governor Newsom’s Water Portfolio Program to develop resiliency statewide.

Sweetwater Authority Set To Create A Citizens Advisory Committee

A soon-to-be-created citizens advisory committee will provide the Sweetwater Authority governing board with input on issues related to the operations of the South Bay water agency. The goal is for the seven-member governing board to be in a position to “make better, more informed and well-rounded decisions” by allowing ratepayers to be involved in the decision-making, said Steve Castaneda, chair of the board. “It’s something that I think will enhance the process and hopefully make us more responsive to the needs of the folks we serve,” Castaneda said. The board last week instructed staff to draft a policy to govern the composition and work of the committee.

OPINION: RMWD’s Proposed Rate Increases

Dave Patterson’s letter to the editor in the June 6, 2019, issue of the Ramona Sentinelopens with the claim that “there is something in the water at the (RMWD) ….” Two articles written by Julie Gallant in the same issue provide evidence that “something” is a lack of candor. At the RMWD board meeting on May 14, 2019, Director Tom Ace asked if the $240,000 annual increase in San Vicente Sewer Service Area recycled water revenue was taken into account since the Bartle Wells Associates study originally recommended a 3 percent annual increase in the San Vicente sewer rate. The response was that the annual rate increase had been reduced to 1.5 percent (about $50,000).

Extremely Dry Soil Connects Forest Die-Offs To Prolonged Drought, Says New UC Study

The U.S. Forest Service estimates 147 million trees in California died following the state’s prolonged drought. New research out of UC Merced suggests a culprit: Extremely dry soil.

Not all California droughts have led to massive forest die-offs. The difference this time, according to an article published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Geoscience, was the drought’s intense heat and longevity.

Trump Said Water Wars ‘Easy’ to Fix. What Do Farmers Say Now?

Three years ago, presidential candidate Donald Trump got right to the heart of Central Valley agriculture’s fight over its most precious resource. “We’re going to solve your water problem. You have a water problem that is so insane,” Trump told a campaign audience at Selland Arena in May 2016. “It is so ridiculous where they’re taking the water and shoving it out to sea.”

Trump said the seemingly endless grind among agricultural, urban, and environmental interests over water resources would be simple to fix.

What is Causing Those Harmful Algal Blooms? Water and Heat

Weather conditions that make this a landmark year, like more rain, could be part of the reason for the algae blooms in Horseshoe Lake, putting the upper Bidwell Park lake off limits for use for the foreseeable future.

Swimming in the lake, for humans or dogs, is warned against, and new city signs say exposure to the algae can kill animals. Those who fish need to take special steps in preparing their catch.

OPINION: Believe It or Not, Colorado Will Soon Become a Waterless Desert… Part Eight

Based on two weeks of research into the probable future of water supplies in the American West, it’s pretty clear that no water expert or journalist truly believes Colorado is likely to become a lifeless, waterless desert, within the lifetime of anyone currently alive.

OPINION: Why California’s Fight Against Climate Change Must Include Clean Water

California’s political leaders have made the long-overdue decision to clean up the Central Valley’s contaminated drinking water, and help cash-strapped rural water districts.

The catch: rather than assess a fee on water users or tapping into the state’s budget surplus, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature relied on cap-and-trade money to pay for a portion of the operation.