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Opinion: Importing Water to Save the Salton Sea Can Work. Let’s Prove and Do It Now

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Chuck Parker and Feliz Nunez

The Engagement Committee of the Salton Sea Management Plan (SSMP) met June 17 on Zoom, though participating community members were neither seen or heard; they could only write comments and questions.

About 90% of the meeting consisted of management reporting on small plans to control dust and build habitat that still require federal permits, which will delay construction for another year. Also, the SSMP has approved a $19 million dollar pilot project for the North Lake.

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IID Applauds New California State Budget

/in , , /by /KYMA-TV, Yuma, Arizonaby Lisa Sturgis

The Imperial Irrigation District is celebrating California’s new state budget. In spite of coronavirus-caused spending cuts, it will get the funding it needs for two important environmental projects.

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A Long-Simmering Water Battle Comes to a Boil in Southern California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

If, like me, you live in Los Angeles — or Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix or Salt Lake City — you drink water from the Colorado River. You probably eat vegetables grown with Colorado River water, and maybe you eat beef fed on alfalfa grown with Colorado River water. When you switch on a light or charge your phone, some of the electricity may be generated by Colorado River water.

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California Legislature Votes to Keep Funding for Salton Sea Project in State Budget Proposal

/in , , /by /KESQ Palm Springsby Madison Weil

The California legislature voted Monday to keep the Salton Sea in its budget proposal sent to Governor Gavin Newsom. Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia said he’s pleased the legislature found a way to allocate some funding for the Salton Sea despite the fiscal challenges created by the pandemic.

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Draft Study Highlights Region’s Water Conveyance Options

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

A draft report released today by the San Diego County Water Authority shows that building a new conveyance system to transport regional water supplies from the Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement is cost-competitive with other long-term options for meeting the region’s water needs.

The draft Phase A report is under review by water officials across the region. The Water Authority’s Board of Directors is expected to decide whether to move to Phase B at its July 23 meeting.

“By releasing this draft report – along with an independent review of key financial assumptions – we are trying to spark a thoughtful dialogue about our region’s water future,” said Dan Denham, deputy general manager for the Water Authority. “Given the long lead time for major water infrastructure projects, it’s important that San Diego County wrestle with these complex questions today so we can control our own destiny tomorrow.”

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Opinion: Customers are Paramount in Imperial Irrigation District COVID-19 Response

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Norma Sierra Galindo

The situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve and is having a significant impact on our customers and community. IID is monitoring developments closely, and as an essential services provider, is open and well prepared to continue serving all its customers.

On March 21, the IID Board of Directors adopted a resolution proclaiming a local emergency associated with COVID-19. This ensures the continuation of IID’s critical water and electric services under the California Emergency Services Act.

As part of our Pandemic Response plan, the district initiated a shelter-in-place program for critical employees. A small group of volunteer employees, who possess specialized skills to operate the district’s water and energy delivery systems, will remain at critical job sites 24-hours-a-day for three weeks working to ensure that our water and energy delivery systems remain operational while they stay healthy.

This extra step is part of how IID is working to carry out our mission to deliver energy to our customers in the Imperial and Coachella valleys. It also ensures the continued year-round delivery of Colorado River water from the All-American Canal to the Coachella Canal that supports farming operations in both valleys.

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Imperial Valley Conservation Efforts Benefit San Diego, Southwest

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The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors visited the Imperial Valley January 30 for a day-long tour that highlighted areas critical to the agency’s Regional Conveyance System Study.

Board members approved a study in July 2019, to evaluate a new regional water conveyance system that would deliver water from the Colorado River to San Diego County and provide multiple benefits across the Southwest.  The Board will hear results from the first phase of the study this spring before deciding whether to move ahead with Phase B.

Imperial Valley tour of potential routes for regional conveyance

The tour started in southwestern Imperial County, where the All-American Canal meets the Westside Main Canal, an historic location where, starting in 1919, water from a canal system in Mexico first flowed into the western half of the Imperial Valley. It is also the place where three potential routes for a new water conveyance system, now being analyzed in the study, would begin.

“The goal of the study is to determine first, whether there is a cost benefit to the Water Authority and its member agencies in the long-term to build a regional conveyance system to transport our independent Colorado River supplies from the Imperial Valley directly to San Diego County,” said Dan Denham, the Water Authority’s deputy general manager.

One specific benefit to the Water Authority, the Imperial Irrigation District, and farmers in the Imperial Valley, would be the proposal to build an operational storage facility in the valley’s western area. The facility could help manage water deliveries to serve the needs of agriculture in the valley, while helping the Water Authority manage its transfer supply.

The trip included visits to several agriculture fields for a first-hand look at the latest conservation techniques used by farmers under the 2003 Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement.

Tom Brundy: Conservation is ‘extremely important’

Tom Brundy has been farming in the Imperial Valley for more than 40 years, and today he grows hay on 4,000 acres. Most of the hay produced by the farm is sold to customers in San Diego County, one of many connections between Imperial and San Diego counties.

“Every farmer in Imperial County is conserving water, and quite a bit,” said Tom Brundy, president of the Imperial County Farm Bureau. “I have subsurface drip on alfalfa, we’re using soil monitors and soil sensors to help us in our water scheduling, and we continue to modify our methods using new technology that saves water.”

Farmer Alex Jack: ‘out of the box thinking’

Jack Bros. Inc. also is an innovator in on-farm conservation. Alex Jack is a third-generation farmer using pump back systems and permanent drip irrigation. Many of his crops, from lettuce to cauliflower, are grown with zero water runoff.

Jack calls his progressive approach “out of the box thinking.”

“My goal is to be the best farmer possible,” said Jack. “If I happen to conserve water, that’s fantastic, but most of the new high-technology methods are conserving water.”

Salton Sea Restoration Program

The east side of the Salton Sea was the final stop on the Imperial Valley tour. Board members got an update on restoration efforts, including the 500-acre Red Hill Marina Wetlands Project, one of the first Salton Sea Management Program projects.

Representatives from the California Department of Water Resources, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Imperial Irrigation District described how the area was once a prime bird-watching location before the Salton Sea began receding. The 500-acre project will decrease dust emissions by creating a shallow marine habitat using water from the Salton Sea and a nearby river.

The project is a partnership between the federal and state government, and the Imperial Irrigation District – with a portion of the funding coming from a federal assistance program that the Quantification Settlement Agreement Joint Powers Authority helped fund. Work is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The Imperial Valley tour, which highlighted the partnerships between San Diego and Imperial County, was part of an on-going series of tours led by the Water Authority’s Colorado River Program.

2003: Colorado River Agreement Signed

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In 1995, the San Diego County Water Authority began negotiations with the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) for the transfer of up to 500,000 acre-feet of water per year from the fertile farming area in the southeastern corner of California. In 1998, the Water Authority and IID signed an agreement that provided for the transfer of between 130,000 and 300,000 acre-feet of water per year, depending on the exercise of certain options. Despite legislation signed in 1998 by then Governor Pete Wilson to encourage the transfer, its actual implementation took five more years to materialize.

Faced with the propsect of reduced sales to its largest customer, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) responded to the Water Authority-IID deal with an all-out battle to protect its monopoly. In late 2003, pressure from the California State Legislature and the governor forced MWD to back down. It joined the Water Authority, IID, the Coachella Valley Water District, state of California, and the U.S. Department of the Interior in signing the historic Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA). The QSA created a plan for limiting the state’s use of Colorado River water to its basic annual appointment of 4.4 million acre-feet, instead of continuing to rely on surplus supplies that belonged to other fast-growing states in the Southwest.