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The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors voted unanimously at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 2 to endorse California’s Delta Conveyance Project, with managers and directors saying the plan could strengthen the State Water Project and reduce pressure on the drought-stricken Colorado River.

The move is notable because Imperial County does not receive State Water Project water, and IID relies entirely on the Colorado River. The district said the endorsement underscores how the state’s two major water systems are linked, and that improving reliability in one benefits the other. The IID described its action as a “significant and unusual endorsement” in a press release, noting that it is the largest irrigation district in the United States and the largest single user of Colorado River water.

California’s biggest irrigation district is throwing its support behind a controversial water diversion project that aims to help relieve the Golden State’s historic battle with drought but also faces widespread local opposition.

The Imperial Irrigation District — the biggest district not only in California, but also the nation — declared on Tuesday that it was issuing “a significant and unusual endorsement” for the state’s proposed Delta Conveyance Project.

For millennia, humans have sought to make seawater drinkable. Ancient mariners tried distillation by boiling the oceans in which they sailed, and in more recent times, engineers have experimented with filters and chemicals .

As the climate warms, populations surge and droughts intensify, there is a growing need to make the sea drinkable. Desalination technology is spreading fastest in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia, where there is plenty of ocean but dwindling supplies of fresh water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published a sector-wide set of non-regulatory recommendations to strengthen U.S. drinking water and wastewater systems against cyber attacks, alongside new funding for resilience projects. Although the document itself is advisory, it lands amid stepped-up inspections and enforcement tied to Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) §1433 risk-and-resilience obligations. Utilities, vendors, investors, and acquirers should treat these recommendations as the new baseline for diligence, budgeting, and compliance planning.

The demand for water from the Colorado River is of paramount importance out West and the focus of some big battles. It’s been especially critical for farming and agriculture. In California’s Imperial Valley, there are growing questions over the use of that resource and whether bigger changes are needed. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports.