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First-Ever Water Shortage on the Colorado River Will Bring Cuts for Arizona Farmers

/in , , /by /Arizona Republicby Ian James and Zayna Syed

The federal government on Monday declared a first-ever water shortage on the Colorado River, announcing mandatory cutbacks next year that will bring major challenges for Arizona farmers and reduce the water allotments of Nevada and Mexico.

The declaration of a shortage by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been anticipated for months and was triggered by the spiraling decline of Lake Mead, which stores water used by Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico.

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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.”

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Long Troubled Salton Sea May Finally Be Getting What it Most Needs: Action – and Money

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation/Western Water by Gary Pitzer

State work to improve wildlife habitat and tamp down dust at California’s ailing Salton Sea is finally moving forward. Now the sea may be on the verge of getting the vital ingredient needed to supercharge those restoration efforts – money.

The shrinking desert lake has long been a trouble spot beset by rising salinity and unhealthy, lung-irritating dust blowing from its increasingly exposed bed. It shadows discussions of how to address the Colorado River’s two-decade-long drought because of its connection to the system. The lake is a festering health hazard to nearby residents, many of them impoverished, who struggle with elevated asthma risk as dust rises from the sea’s receding shoreline.

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Coalition Urges Protection for Shrinking Colorado River

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journal by Blake Apgar

A group that included environmentalists, elected leaders and officials from business and agriculture gathered Thursday morning to put forth a slate of demands for a new approach to managing the Colorado River.

“We’re here to say, ‘Damn the status quo. No more business as usual,’ ” Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, said from a makeshift lectern in a parking lot just above the Hoover Dam.

Management of the river, which feeds Lake Mead and serves 40 million people in seven states and Mexico, has failed and the approach must be revised, Roerink said.

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Valley’s Farm Organization Execs Look Ahead

/in , , /by /Calexico Chronicleby Darren Simon Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

With 500,000 acres of farmland in the Imperial Valley, agriculture continues to not only be vital to the economy of the region, but now perhaps more than ever the crops grown on that land are critical to the entire country and a world that is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Considering just how essential Imperial Valley agriculture is, strong voices ready to advocate on behalf of the farming community are pivotal — especially considering the ongoing challenges farmers face, like increasing costs of production and an ongoing need to protect the Valley’s water rights during this time of drought, as they work to get their crops from the fields to dinner tables.

 

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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.

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Opinion: Two Decrees Affect California Water Wars

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Dan Walters

The powerful interests who vie for shares of the state’s ever-changing water supply — dubbed “water buffaloes” — are adept at fending off political and legal assaults by their rivals and the outcomes of their clashes are often stalemates.

That’s why it was surprising in June to see two game-changing decrees out of Washington, one from the new Biden administration and another from the Supreme Court, affecting two of the state’s most prominent water interests, Southern California’s Imperial Irrigation District and the San Joaquin Valley’s Westlands Water District.

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U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Michael Abatti’s Colorado River Water Case Challenging IID

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

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously declined a petition by Imperial Valley farmer Michael Abatti claiming he and a handful of other agricultural landowners, not the Imperial Irrigation District, held senior rights to Colorado River water that nearly 40 million people across the West depend on.

The decision likely is the last stop for a torturous legal battle that dates back to 2013. As the law stands, farmers have a guaranteed right to water delivery but not a special claim above other users like homes and geothermal plants.

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Abatti Responds to IID’s Supreme Court Filing

/in , , /by /Holtville Tribuneby Elizabeth Varin

Imperial Valley grower, landowner and former elected official Michael Abatti has responded to the Imperial Irrigation District’s official filing in his U.S. Supreme Court petition. The official response was filed sometime Monday, June 7. In March, Abatti filed for a “writ of certiorari” with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District’s decision in Abatti v. Imperial Irrigation District, to which the district was ordered by the High Court to provide a formal response last month.

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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.

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