Posts

Opinion: Conserving Water Can Cut Our Bills and Help Future Generations

/in , /by /Desert Sunby Arden Wallum

Extended droughts broken up by rainy years are part of a natural cycle here in California. Our state is once again in another dry period, with areas of Northern California already experiencing a significant impact. It is not a question of if, but when the Coachella Valley faces a similar fate.

Thanks to decades of targeted projects and careful planning, Mission Springs Water District will have enough water to serve our 40,000 customers in and around Desert Hot Springs.

Full Story

Opinion: With Climate Imperiled, the Salton Sea Needs Us

/in , , /by /The Press-Enterpriseby Conchita Pozar |

California’s Coachella Valley is my home, made complete by the proximity and awe of the stunning Salton Sea. My community is proud of the traditions, unique desert landscape and vibrant culture that make our valley a special place. Yet as years pass and our leaders fail to act, the Salton Sea, California’s largest inland lake, is dying and people are getting sick. For decades, we have lived under a cloud of dangerous pollutants from the Salton Sea’s drying lakebed.

Full Story

IID’s New Coachella Valley Energy Commission Tackles Energy, Water Divide

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

Seeking to stave off legislation that would force Riverside County representation on its board of directors, the Imperial Irrigation District on Thursday convened the first meeting of its new Coachella Valley Energy Commission.

Undera long-term agreement with the Coachella Valley Water District, IID provides electrical power to 100,000 Coachella Valley residents. That pact expires in 2033, and the new commission’s overarching goal is to hammer out a way forward for those customers.

“As we approach the end of a 99-year arrangement … we must work together and adapt to changing circumstances and plan for a future of mutual benefit,” said IID Board of Directors Vice President J.B. Hamby, who chairs the new commission. “That’s not just overcoming perceived differences between Coachella and Imperial Valleys, but within the Coachella Valley as well. Our task is to overcome geography, wealth, backgrounds, and past differences as we plan our shared future.”

Full Story

‘The Air is Toxic’: How An Idyllic California Lake Became a Nightmare

/in , /by /The Guardian

Just to be safe, Noemí Vázquez keeps inhalers in almost every room of her house. She stashes them in her kitchen cupboard, a couple in her purse, one in the bathroom, and, of course, by her bedside.

And then there’s the large, black Puma knapsack where she keeps her nebulizer, several inhalers, and the montelukast pills she takes to treat her wheezing. Her four-year-old granddaughter has her own asthma kit – a neon pink and purple Trolls-themed lunch box that holds a small, child-sized nebulizer and a few inhalers. “She’s smart! She knows: this is her bag,” Vázquez said.

Full Story

IID Pounds Pavement to Head Off Bill

/in , /by /Holtville Tribuneby Antoine Abou-Diwan

Imperial Irrigation District officials are making a last-ditch effort to amend or kill proposed legislation that could fundamentally transform the governing board of the agency, Assembly Bill 1021.

At the heart of the issue is how the bill could force the district — which provides water and power to virtually all of Imperial County, and electricity to part of the Coachella Valley — to add a seat representing energy ratepayers from a small section of southeastern Riverside County to the IID Board of Directors.

IID officials are vehemently opposed to the bill, which they see as the tip of a spear that would allow outside interests to seize control of Imperial Valley’s lifeblood, its water.

Full Story

Opinion: Why ‘Fixing’ the Salton Sea with Pipelines is Unrealistic and Too Expensive

/in , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Alexander Schriener Jr.

Once again, the chest beating for a sea-to-sea pipeline to “fix” the Salton Sea has begun. Here are a few facts are often ignored.

The Coachella Canal shows that it is possible to transport water long distances without pumping. That canal transports Colorado River water 122 miles to the Coachella Valley, all by gravity. It was completed in 1948, before current environmental regulations. According to the CVWD, this canal delivers about 280,000 acre-feet per year of water.

Full Story

Clock is Ticking On Dreams of Saving Salton Sea With Water From Mexico’s Sea of Cortez

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

Coachella Valley-based architect Nikola Lakic knows how to fix the withering Salton Sea. Or, at least he says he does.

Lakic believes it’s possible to import water from Mexico’s Sea of Cortez — or, perhaps, from the Pacific Ocean off the California coast — through a multi-billion-dollar system of pipes. He would construct mangrove habitat for natural water filtration, send desalinated water to geothermal plants and, amid all this, restore California’s largest lake.

Full Story

IID and Assemblyman Chad Mayes Go Head-To-Head Over Proposed Legislation as IID Threatens to Exit Coachella Valley

/in , , /by /KESQby Shelby Nelson

The Imperial Irrigation District and Assemblyman Chad Mayes are at a war of words, which could potentially escalate to IID pulling out of the Coachella Valley altogether and taking legal action. The district threatened the move in response to proposed legislation by Mayes to increase the IID board of directors from 5 to 6 members, with the additional position appointed by the Fourth District Riverside County Supervisor, which is currently Manuel Perez.

Full Story

IID Board Takes Action to Protect Water Rights and Address Coachella Valley Concerns

/in , , /by /The Desert Review (Imperial Valley)

The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors adopted a resolution Tuesday, June 1, to better serve IID’s Coachella Valley energy customers and better protect Imperial Valley’s water rights, according to a press release.

Full Story

Air Quality Regulators Adopt Plan to Address Pollution in Eastern Coachella Valley

/in , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

The South Coast Air Quality Management District recently took a key step in setting wide-ranging goals to address air pollution in the eastern Coachella Valley, leaving local residents and politicians cautiously optimistic for the health of communities that have suffered from poor air quality for years.

The new benchmarks, adopted on Dec. 4, come as part of the area’s draft community emissions reduction plan, which is the result of AB617, passed in 2017. In the eastern Coachella Valley, the program will look to reduce nitrogen oxides by 45%, diesel particulate matter by 77% and PM10 — particulate matter that is 10 micrometers or smaller — by 2.4 tons per year, all by 2030.

Full Story