The Sierra Club is suing the Imperial Irrigation District over its latest Colorado River water conservation agreement, arguing the plan would accelerate shrinking of the Salton Sea and harm neighboring communities’ health.
Announced last Friday, the lawsuit against the district and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, contends that a plan to temporarily forgo hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water from the depleted river failed to adequately consider its impact on the largest lake in the region.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Kylie Capuanohttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngKylie Capuano2024-09-20 08:12:162024-09-20 08:12:16Imperial Irrigation District Sued Over Colorado River Conservation Plan
The federal government and Imperial Irrigation District on Friday unveiled a key environmental assessment of a potential huge Colorado River conservation deal that could save nearly 1 million acre-feet of water through 2026 — and yield the agency and area farmers as much as $700 million in public funds.
Growers said they’re ready to begin summertime fallowing and other measures as soon as the paperwork is finalized, and the clock is ticking. But a veteran analyst of intertwined Colorado River and Salton Sea issues and an area environmental justice advocate both said they have concerns.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Kylie Capuanohttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngKylie Capuano2024-07-03 08:37:502024-07-03 08:37:50Feds Tout Colorado River Deal Despite Concern Over Residents, Wildlife Near Salton Sea
When desert winds stir up dust from the Salton Sea’s exposed lakebed, nearby communities suffer from increased air pollution. The deterioration coincides with reduced flows into California’s largest lake, finds a new research paper in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Chelsea Camposhttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngChelsea Campos2024-05-30 08:26:102024-05-30 08:26:10A Drying Salton Sea: Research Finds Higher Particulate Pollution After Water Diverted to San Diego
Last fall, all seven states sharing the Colorado River — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — came together and agreed on a short-term fix to alleviate pressing concerns caused by prolonged drought.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Maddie Simmonshttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngMaddie Simmons2024-03-19 08:26:072024-03-19 08:26:07OPINION- I’m A California Farmer. Other States Can Learn From Our Water Conservation Success.
California water agencies including the San Diego County Water Authority are exploring ways to better manage sporadic periods of abundant rainfall — part of a larger effort to meet the ever-changing realities they face logistically and economically.
Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham recently discussed the evolution of regional water management on the Southern California Water Dialogue. The Water Dialogues are a monthly forum exploring water-related issues of regional interest.
The backdrop for the discussion is what many call “climate whiplash” — for instance, when three years of record drought from 2020 to 2022 were followed by abnormally high rainfall in 2023. In the future, California could experience shorter but more extreme wet seasons between periods of drought.
View the webinar here.
Creative portfolio approach to water management
At the Water Authority — the agency responsible for long-term water planning in San Diego County — Denham said the lack of regular rainfall and little access to groundwater has forced the Water Authority to be more creative than most water agencies in securing a safe, reliable water supply.
“We embarked upon a 20-to-30-year process to diversify the Water Authority’s supply portfolio. Our board directed a portfolio approach to ensure that we had not only sufficient supplies but also made significant investments in infrastructure,” explained Denham.
“We’ve adopted cutting-edge conservation and techniques. We’ve sponsored legislation at the state level. And we’re at the forefront of many water use efficiency programs,” said Denham.
With those investments and actions as the foundation, the time is right to set a vision for the coming decades. “The future of water in Southern California — of course, reuse is going to be a big component of it — but I do believe a lot of it is going to be sharing resources and developing partnerships,” Denham said.
Advancing long-term water-sharing partnerships
Signing the historic agreement: Top (L to R): Mel Katz, chair SDCWA Board; Jim Madaffer, Vice Chair Colorado River Board of CA and SDCWA Board member; Gloria Cordero, MWD’s representative to the Colorado River Board; Adan Ortega, chair MWD Board; J.B. Hamby, Chair Colorado River Board of CA. Bottom (L To R): Dan Denham, SDCWA General Manager; Camille Touton, Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Adel Hagekhalil, MWD General Manager; Jamie Asbury, Imperial Irrigation District General Manager. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Denham said investing in a long-term partnership with the Imperial Irrigation District in a water conservation agreement has proved key. “Those types of partnerships have continued and had been successful over the past 20 years,” said Denham.
“This is what our diversification looks like. This is 25 years’ worth of investment in resiliency, transitioning us from an imported water agency with one source of supply to where we’re at today with a really diverse resource mix,” said Denham.
Denham says in addition to maximizing reuse, sharing resources and developing partnerships to share those resources will become vital. The Water Authority signed a landmark agreement with the Metropolitan Water District and the Imperial Irrigation District in late 2023.
“What we were able to do was take advantage of those high runoff years in Northern California, bringing that State Water Project water down to San Diego and leaving some of our Colorado River conserved water in Lake Mead – 50,000-acre feet – which raised the reservoir by six inches. It could not have been done without the partnership that we have in relationships developed over time with the Metropolitan Water District and the Imperial Irrigation District. I look towards more of this to the future,” said Denham.
Flexibility to optimize water resources
In October 2003, the San Diego County Water Authority, Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, State of California and U.S. Department of the Interior completed a historic set of agreements to conserve and transfer Colorado River water.
While planning for drought is necessary, it’s also necessary to devise a plan flexible enough to take advantage of high-runoff years.
“What do you do in those high runoff years, in those years of abundance? Some of that speaks to storage,” explained Denham. “The Water Authority has increased its largest surface water storage reservoir. It’s doubled in size. But the Water Authority — like others in the Metropolitan Water District service area in California, is realizing that those surface water storage reservoirs are pretty full.
“What does that speak to next? Flexibility, and the sharing of resources. If our reservoirs are full, or we don’t have the demands for the investments that we’ve made, whether it’s in the Colorado River supplies or the Carlsbad desalination plant, perhaps there’s another partner in Southern California or in the Lower Colorado River Basin that we can exchange supplies with.
“What I mean by that is we do have supplies that can be managed in a different way,” said Denham.
Established in 1998, the Water Dialogue explores the common interests among Southern California water agencies, environmental organizations, and public interest organizations, and serves as a clearinghouse and advocate for projects, activities, and processes that will improve the quality and reliability of Southern California’s water supply.
The Water Dialogue represents members including the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Southern California Watershed Alliance, Sierra Club, West Basin Municipal Water District, Central Basin Municipal Water District, Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Irvine Ranch Water District, Trabuco Canyon Water District, Southern California Water Coalition, Atwater Consulting Group, Jacobs and Caltech/JPL/NASA.
For the second time in recent months, the San Diego County Water Authority is considering an innovative water transfer that could eventually deliver drought-resilient water supplies to South Orange County through the Moulton Niguel Water District and help combat increasing water rates for San Diegans.
Both districts have signed a Memorandum of Understanding MOU to begin discussions centering on the Water Authority transferring water supplies to Moulton Niguel, including from the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant.
Agency leaders will determine the details, including when and how a transfer might take place.
The Moulton Niguel Water District serves more than 170,000 customers from Laguna Niguel to San Juan Capistrano.
Previous water transfer deal offers template
Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham speaks at the Dec. 13 signing ceremony in Las Vegas, supporting a set of agreements to sustain the Colorado River and save money for San Diego County water ratepayers. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
In December, the Water Authority completed a similar agreement to transfer water with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Imperial Irrigation District. It saves the Water Authority between $15 million and $20 million while helping to raise the level of Lake Mead.
“The San Diego region’s investments in water supply reliability are being used to protect local ratepayers from rising costs while offering solutions that benefit the entire Southwest,” said Water Authority Board Chair Mel Katz. “We appreciate Moulton Niguel’s vision to explore this concept and we look forward to fashioning a mutually beneficial agreement.”
Moulton Niguel’s 2020 Long Range Water Reliability Plan and Water Reliability Policy prioritize the development and phased addition of new drought-proof water supplies to sustain its service area during droughts, which have hit California with increasing frequency over the past three decades.
“Our Board is committed to making cost-effective investments to enhance water supplies that benefit our service area in dry years, and a potential partnership with the Water Authority is another piece of that plan. In the era of climate extremes, it’s in everyone’s best interest to find partnerships that maintain our economy and quality of life,” said Moulton Niguel Board President Duane D. Cave.
Diverse water portfolio provides water reliability
The Carlsbad plant uses reverse osmosis to produce approximately 10 percent of the region’s water supply; it is a core supply regardless of weather conditions, and it is blended with water from other sources for regional distribution. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Over the past 20 years, the Water Authority has developed a nationally recognized portfolio of drought-resilient water supplies, including the nation’s largest seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad. Completed in 2015, the facility produces up to 56,000 acre-feet of water a year, meeting about 10% of the region’s water demand.
San Diego region’s per capita water use has dropped by more than 50% during the same time. The reduction in water use by consumers allows the Water Authority to collaborate with other water providers on solutions to climate-induced supply challenges.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2022_08_17_CC_0803_Lake_Mead-845X450.jpg450845Gayle Falkenthalhttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngGayle Falkenthal2024-03-01 15:04:392024-06-03 13:55:27Water Agencies Explore Innovative Transfer Deal for Drought-Resilient Water
Imperial Irrigation District Division 4 incumbent Javier Gonzalez is facing a crowded field of challengers — five in all — in the March 5 Primary Election, among them here is longtime educator, former Calexico City Council member and current Calexico Unified School District board member Lewis Pacheco and small business owner and both former Calexico council and Calexico Unified School board member Joong Kim.
Officials from Northern California visited San Diego County this week as part of a tour focused on regional water use and reliability investments that have been touted as a national model of water management.
San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham welcomed about two dozen leaders at the start of the event, explaining how San Diego County’s long-term investment strategy is fueling a new approach to water management. In 2022, drought created dire water shortages across Southern California, but San Diego had sufficient supplies due to a combination of conservation and investments.
Behind the scenes look at water management
FlorAbunda Nursery owner Dana Groot is a fifth-generation nurseryman and president of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
“That got us to a point where we started thinking about how we can do things even more differently, and we started working on cooperative agreements with Metropolitan and Imperial Irrigation District and other Southern California water providers to share some of this water we have invested in,” said Denham.
The Water Authority was represented by Board Vice Chair Nick Serrano and Secretary Frank Hilliker, along with Board Member Lois Fong-Sakai and Gail Goldberg, two of the Water Authority’s delegates to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California organized the tour, in collaboration with the Water Authority for the San Diego portion. MWD was represented by Board Chair Adan Ortega and other Board members, along with General Manager Adel Hagekhalil.
The “inspection trip” was designed to give county officials from the Bay-Delta region a behind-the-scenes look at water management in Southern California, where water management, climate and infrastructure are very different than in the northern part of the state.
Tour highlights: Pure Water San Diego, FlorAbunda Nursery
San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham welcomed about two dozen leaders at the start of the event, explaining how San Diego County’s long-term investment strategy is fueling a new approach to water management. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
The tour started with City of San Diego Utilities Director Juan Guerreiro at the City of San Diego’s Pure Water program – a phased, multi-year project that will provide nearly half of San Diego’s water supply locally by the end of 2035. Pure Water San Diego will use proven water purification technology to clean recycled water to produce safe, high-quality drinking water. In addition, said Serrano, the city has year-round permanent mandatory water restrictions in place, designed to promote water conservation as a permanent way of life in San Diego.
“We are enormously proud of our citizens and our local water conservation efforts which have reduced City’s per capita water usage to 100 gpcd for the past five years,” Serrano said.
Next, visitors stopped at FlorAbunda Nursery in Escondido’s Elfin Forest. The nursery was founded by Dana Groot, a fifth-generation nurseryman whose ancestors founded the Sluis & Groot Seed Company in Holland in the 1870s. FlorAbunda focuses on the commercial production of premium poinsettias and hydrangeas, with five generations of flower and seed production experience and the best of modern genetics and growing techniques.
The FlorAbunda Nursery in Elfin Forest is a wholesale grower of potted hydrangea, poinsettia, succulents, house plants and other flowering plants, using high-efficiency drop irrigation. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Groot, who serves as president of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, showcased the water efficiency of San Diego County’s farm industry. San Diego County is home to more farms – more than 5,500 – than any other county in the U.S., and it is the nation’s top producer of nursery plants and floriculture. Driven both by the cost of water and a conservation ethic, the region’s farmers are strong proponents of water stewardship.
At FlorAbunda, Groot’s five-acre farm is entirely on high-efficiency drip irrigation. “The goal is to keep the water on the targeted areas,” said Groot, who was joined for the tour by Farm Bureau Past President Enrico Ferro and Hilliker, who sits on the Farm Bureau Board. “It’s kind of been a company policy. Everything is going to be on drip. We thought it was the responsible thing to do.”
After leaving San Diego County, the tour group headed for MWD’s Diamond Valley Lake, and then points north, including the Grace Napolitano Pure Water Southern California Innovation Center.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Tour-FlorAbunda-Nursery-Norcal-Group-845X450.jpg450845Gayle Falkenthalhttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngGayle Falkenthal2024-01-17 17:07:542024-01-18 09:59:56Water Management and Efficiency Highlight San Diego Tour
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Chelsea Camposhttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngChelsea Campos2023-12-15 08:46:452023-12-15 08:59:58Opinion: California Will Get $295 Million From Feds to Use Less Colorado River Water. Here’s Why Some Utahns Aren’t Happy.
California water districts and Bureau of Reclamation officials today commemorated a series of 21 water conservation agreements that will save 1.6 million acre feet of Colorado River water through 2026.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Chelsea Camposhttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngChelsea Campos2023-12-14 08:04:362023-12-14 08:04:36Officials Commit to Deals to Conserve Colorado River Water