IID water rationing reduced to ‘pilot program’ By BRIANNA LUSK, Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 10:59 PM PST
The agriculture industry will have another year to adjust to living with water limitations as a projected water shortfall never materialized.
The Imperial Irrigation District board voted to rescind a supply demand imbalance declared earlier this year and implement a pilot water rationing program.
Farmers have said the program adopted by IID has a multitude of flaws.
“We are happy it is a pilot program,” said Mark Osterkamp, president of the Imperial County Farm Bureau. “A lot of the suggestions made by the farm bureau have not been incorporated into the plan.”
This summer the board voted to declare a supply demand imbalance when water projections estimated the district would go 75,000 acre-feet over its allotment of the Colorado River this year.
During the past few months that projected overrun has shrunk and now is negligible at 1,000 acre-feet.
“It’ll give us the map that we need for the following year,” said board President Stella Mendoza of the adopted program.
Because it is a pilot year, the negative impacts of farmers going over their water allotment will not be implemented.
Issues like the forms used by farmers to request water and how long that process takes are still being worked out.
“We need to fine tune some issues,” Director James Hanks said.
The pilot program involves a straight-line method, which means each farmable acre will be given the same amount of water for the year.
Water that isn’t used can be returned to the district and exchanged among farmers with the district acting as a mediator.
Osterkamp said because of the rainfall and water saving through the year, the farming community has been spared a severe blow.
“It still will have an impact. It’s very clear to the farmers the direction IID is going in allocating water,” Osterkamp said.
During the next year Osterkamp said he hopes the district can work with the agriculture community to minimize the impact the complicated system will have.
District officials were optimistic about the success the pilot program could have in the future.
“The framework for this system of apportionment is now in place,” said interim General Manager Mike Campbell. “The missing elements are time, experience and a willingness to change.”
Hanks called for the district to begin measuring how much water is spilled throughout the year, an estimated 400,000 acre-feet, and how that number could be decreased.
Director John Pierre Menvielle said although growers in the Valley are still concerned about the future of water apportionment, 2008 will be an exchange of ideas.
“If there’s certain ideas people have they can bring that forward. I envision as we go down the road we’re going to make changes,” Menvielle said.
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