The Bureau of Reclamation has put out its decision on the Imperial Irrigation District releasing early mitigation water to the Salton Sea, and the answer is undecided.
The bureau’s Regional Director Lorri Gray-Lee responded just days before a previously set deadline about IID’s release of 41,250 acre-feet of underrun water into the Salton Sea last year.
The local district released the water for its 2010, 2011 and half of 2012 Salton Sea mitigation requirements set by the Quantification Settlement Agreement, the nation’s largest agriculture to urban water transfer.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Bureau of Reclamation questioned whether IID had the right to that water, and talks among the water agencies and federal agency began.
The bureau provided notice in December that if a consensus among the different involved water districts — IID, MWD, San Diego County Water Authority and Coachella Valley Water District — wasn’t reached, the bureau planned to make a determination.
However, Gray-Lee wrote in her letter to the water districts that she was encouraged by all the groups working together to reach an acceptable solution.
“In recent meetings a preliminary approach to a potentially sustainable and implementable solution has begun to take shape,” she wrote.
The bureau has developed a “strong appreciation of the perspectives of each agency,” along with the complexity of the legal, financial, political and environmental issues through the months of discussion, Gray-Lee wrote.
IID Board President Stella Mendoza emphasized her support of the action IID took.
“I support the IID management’s decision to release the early mitigation water to the Salton Sea,” she said. “We all know it’s a beneficial use.”
The Metropolitan Water District can’t dictate to the IID how best the IID can use its entitlement of water as MWD was trying to do, she said.
“It’s none of their business,” she added.
The letter to the IID and other water agencies basically says that the bureau is aware that it needs to account for the water released into the Salton Sea, but it’s going to defer making that accounting decision while talks continue, said IID General Manager Kevin Kelley. The bureau could come back if the talks break down and require IID to make up for that water released.
The discussion between the water agencies and bureau has morphed from the dispute over the mitigation water into figuring out a way to fortify the joint powers authority set up under the QSA to mitigate impacts to the Salton Sea, he said.
“The clock is ticking,” he said. “The agencies and the bureau are running out of time.”
The IID, other water agencies and reclamation have to find a way to fortify the joint powers agreement with looming deadlines, he said. The QSA as a whole has come into question after the Sacramento Superior Court invalidated it, and the case is on appeal.
The JPA set up by the QSA is also not going to have enough money to carry out its charge to mitigate impacts to the Salton Sea, Kelley said.
The talks among the agencies and bureau now are about coming up with a way of correcting the financial imbalance of the JPA, he said. That’s not going to happen if all the other groups expect IID to devote even more water or financial commitment than it has already assumed.
“It can’t be IID doing all the heavy lifting,” Kelley said. “At some point the other parties are going to have to step up.”
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
The bureau’s Regional Director Lorri Gray-Lee responded just days before a previously set deadline about IID’s release of 41,250 acre-feet of underrun water into the Salton Sea last year.
The local district released the water for its 2010, 2011 and half of 2012 Salton Sea mitigation requirements set by the Quantification Settlement Agreement, the nation’s largest agriculture to urban water transfer.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Bureau of Reclamation questioned whether IID had the right to that water, and talks among the water agencies and federal agency began.
The bureau provided notice in December that if a consensus among the different involved water districts — IID, MWD, San Diego County Water Authority and Coachella Valley Water District — wasn’t reached, the bureau planned to make a determination.
However, Gray-Lee wrote in her letter to the water districts that she was encouraged by all the groups working together to reach an acceptable solution.
“In recent meetings a preliminary approach to a potentially sustainable and implementable solution has begun to take shape,” she wrote.
The bureau has developed a “strong appreciation of the perspectives of each agency,” along with the complexity of the legal, financial, political and environmental issues through the months of discussion, Gray-Lee wrote.
IID Board President Stella Mendoza emphasized her support of the action IID took.
“I support the IID management’s decision to release the early mitigation water to the Salton Sea,” she said. “We all know it’s a beneficial use.”
The Metropolitan Water District can’t dictate to the IID how best the IID can use its entitlement of water as MWD was trying to do, she said.
“It’s none of their business,” she added.
The letter to the IID and other water agencies basically says that the bureau is aware that it needs to account for the water released into the Salton Sea, but it’s going to defer making that accounting decision while talks continue, said IID General Manager Kevin Kelley. The bureau could come back if the talks break down and require IID to make up for that water released.
The discussion between the water agencies and bureau has morphed from the dispute over the mitigation water into figuring out a way to fortify the joint powers authority set up under the QSA to mitigate impacts to the Salton Sea, he said.
“The clock is ticking,” he said. “The agencies and the bureau are running out of time.”
The IID, other water agencies and reclamation have to find a way to fortify the joint powers agreement with looming deadlines, he said. The QSA as a whole has come into question after the Sacramento Superior Court invalidated it, and the case is on appeal.
The JPA set up by the QSA is also not going to have enough money to carry out its charge to mitigate impacts to the Salton Sea, Kelley said.
The talks among the agencies and bureau now are about coming up with a way of correcting the financial imbalance of the JPA, he said. That’s not going to happen if all the other groups expect IID to devote even more water or financial commitment than it has already assumed.
“It can’t be IID doing all the heavy lifting,” Kelley said. “At some point the other parties are going to have to step up.”
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
