With concerns over how a looming Colorado River water shortage will affect Imperial County’s economy, members of its two lead agencies are at loggerheads over a planned summit on the issue.
The issue involves Imperial County’s “2022 Colorado River Summit,” and an Imperial Irrigation District director feeling snubbed over its roll out.
Imperial County District 2 Supervisor Luis Plancarte called for a water shortage summit for all of the water providers in Imperial County to see where they stand with plans to reduce water consumption in light of extreme drought conditions in the state.
An emergency regulation was passed on May 24 by the state Water Resources Control Board, which required urban and commercial water suppliers to implement the second stage of their respective water shortage plans.
Farmers in Imperial County feel like they’ve borne the “lion’s share” of cutbacks in use of water from the Colorado River as the megadrought gripping the West the last couple of decades continues to diminish that vital resource for the Southwest.
With elevations of the river’s reservoirs having now fallen to the point that significant additional cuts to the water supplied to the states that rely on the river are a grim likelihood next year, the Imperial Valley farmers are resigned to seeing further cuts in their water delivery. But they fear those cuts will adversely impact their farms, their lifestyle, their businesses and their communities.
Gov. Gavin Newsom called for $22.5 billion in state spending to combate climate change next year, offering a suite of solutions that mirror climate action and decarbonization efforts now underway in San Diego.
In a presentation Monday on his proposed budget for fiscal year 2022-23, Newsom announced a projected surplus of $45.7 billion and unveiled his proposals to use the windfall to combat COVID-19, climate change, homelessness, high costs of living and crime.
Drought and water supply in the Southwest U.S. dominated the water news in 2021, from the Colorado River Basin to California.
COVID-19 continued its grasp on all aspects of life in 2021. Even in the face of the pandemic, the work of providing water as an essential service continued for every agency with the responsibility of making sure their constituents have the water they need to sustain their communities, farms and businesses.
Drought and water supply in the Southwest U.S. dominated the water news in 2021, from the Colorado River Basin to California.
COVID-19 continued its grasp on all aspects of life in 2021. Even in the face of the pandemic, the work of providing water as an essential service continued for every agency with the responsibility of making sure their constituents have the water they need to sustain their communities, farms and businesses.
This past year highlighted the challenges statewide and throughout the Colorado River Basin associated with providing that water service in the face of a twenty-year drought on the river, yet agencies continued to meet the demands for water. The critical story of 2021 on the Colorado River was the shortage declaration for the upcoming year on Lake Mead, the reservoir serving the river’s Lower Basin. A key element of this story is that while California is not affected by the current shortage declaration, the Lower Basin is moving forward with steps to try to protect the reservoir from further declarations. The effort to meet water needs is continuing with an eye toward finding resolutions to challenges and to address those challenges in a way that is mutually beneficial.
While the drought has been a dominating issue, there are several other critical water matters. An important water story this year was the ramping up of the Conserved Water Transfer Agreement between the Imperial Irrigation District and the San Diego County Water Authority to its full allotment of 200,000 acre-feet per year. The water transfer, which is the cornerstone of the Quantification Settlement Agreement, is provided through a conservation program implemented in the Imperial Valley by IID and the Valley’s farming community and funded by the Water Authority. This water, coupled with 77,700 acre-feet from the lining of the All-American and Coachella Canals, remains an important supply of water for the San Diego community while providing the Valley the funding it needs to implement water conservation.
With the state moving forward with Phase I of its Salton Sea Management Program, there were positive steps toward restoration work at the Salton Sea in 2021. Additionally, the QSA Joint Powers Authority (JPA), made of up IID, SDCWA, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the state, continued its mitigation projects meant to address the specific environmental impacts of the QSA. While challenges continue at the sea, both the state’s restoration work and the separate but complimentary QSA JPA mitigation effort show the sea is a priority issue, and one where all involved will have to continue to monitor to make sure progress continues.
A collage of photographs from the water-related issues covered in the water blog of the Imperial-San Diego Currents website and the Community Spotlight section of the site. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Look to this website for more community features as well as water stories in 2022, as there will likely be no shortage of stories to share. This site is meant to be a benefit to the community, so this writer would ask the community that if you have ideas for Community Spotlight stories in 2022, send a message either through this site or directly to the writer, Darren Simon, at . Likewise, if there are questions you have on water matters or would like to see a water-related issue addressed on this site, contact us through the site or the email provided above.
(Editor’s Note: Darren Simon posts stories featuring water issues in the Imperial Valley, the Colorado River Basin and San Diego County, on the website Imperial-San Diego Currents: https://ivsandiegocurrents.org/)
Starting this week, approximately 500 Imperial Irrigation District employees who work primarily out in the field will begin wearing new uniforms, according to an IID press release. These workers include those required to enter customer properties such as meter readers and service representatives.
Uniforms will transition from the traditional blue shirts to tan colored apparel featuring a larger embroidered IID logo that will help employees be more easily identified by the public.
Nine-thousand trees, mostly willows, are being planted in the 1,000 acre Managed Marsh wildlife habitat in northern Imperial County.
The planting is part of the final construction phase of the Managed Marsh, located off Highway 111 between the city of Calipatria and Niland.
Imperial Irrigation District warns government officials and residents about how harmful the shrinking Colorado River is to our region. IID General Manager, Enrique Martinez, recently spoke to the United States House of Representatives about the issue the desert southwest is facing. He said the time to act is now.
“The drought has been in existence now for 21 years and has continued to challenge the inflows,” said Martinez.
He said the use of water has continued to increase over the years and the flow of water coming down the Colorado River has decreased. Martinez said unless there is major change in the current climate and we get more water during the winter months, we will continue to spiral with less and less water.
Golden State Water Company issued notice to its customers, including Calipatria residents, of its water shortage contingency and staged mandatory water conservation and rationing program, where the already-disadvantage community would not only be expected to conserve water, but also pay fines for water-use violations.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors voted to send a letter Tuesday, Sept. 21, requesting a variance for Calipatria Customer Service Area of the Golden State Water Company’s mandatory water conservation and rationing program for the Apple Valley, Barstow, Calipatria, Morongo Valley, and Wrightwood service areas.
