A crowd filled the W. R. Condit Auditorium on Tuesday as people listened and questioned water attorney Charles T. DuMars (far left) about the Quantification Settlement Agreement plan B that he will work on in the coming months. Farmer Ronnie Leimgruber expressed his concerns early on during the discussion. (Elizabeth Varin) |
Through the past few weeks, the Imperial Irrigation District’s newest water attorney has been receiving plenty of e-mails from Imperial Valley residents spelling out their concerns about the nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer.
“Everyone seems to want the same thing,” he said. “They just want this Valley to be here, and they want the water rights to be here. It’s (the Quantification Settlement Agreement) just a complex web of interrelated relationships that have to be worked through to understand how to do it.
“Basically that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
Nearly every seat in the IID’s William Condit Auditorium in El Centro was filled with farmers, lawyers and other interested parties while still others lined the back wall, waiting to hear Charles T. DuMars talk about the plan B process for the QSA that DuMars’ New Mexico-based law firm will be working on in the coming months.
DuMars was hired in August to help come up with a contingency plan for the QSA, a set of agreements to transfer IID entitlement water to other Southern California water districts. The 2010 court invalidation of the agreement is being appealed.
DuMars said the report his law firm — Law & Resource Planning Associates — will prepare in the coming months will look at a variety of issues, including the legal landscape the agreement faces, the economics behind it and the environmental cost. That information on the potential issues IID will face and recommendations will be given to the board, with any policy decision to come from the directors.
The IID board has simplified some of the process, having set principles for any water transfer earlier this year, DuMars said. Those principles boil down to preserving the present water rights as long as possible, maintaining sustainable agriculture, making sure the district can cover the cost of its water infrastructure and dealing with the receding Salton Sea.
Directors and residents questioned DuMars on the work he will do in the coming months.
It’s great that the district is getting another opinion on the water transfer, said Ronnie Leimgruber, chairman of the district’s Water Conservation Advisory Board and a Holtville farmer. Leimgruber said he just hopes those coming up with plan B listen to more than just the directors, who have a vested interest in keeping the water transfer alive.
Some directors have put a lot of time and effort into defending the QSA, and as such are more hesitant to throw away that work, Leimgruber said. Directors also seem more interested in getting re-elected, rather than focusing on what needs to be done, he said.
Leimgruber added the directors don’t listen to the biggest water users, the farmers, and are more focused on other issues instead of fixing the problematic water transfer.
He said he wants DuMars, as an outside, independent lawyer, to listen to more than just the Board of Directors, but also those with dissenting views.
Others complemented the hiring of DuMars as a progressive step forward.
Former IID Director Ralph Menvielle said DuMars is “what IID and Imperial Valley need to get us through this maze called the QSA,” he said. “What the IID and the Valley don’t need is the QSA in its present form.
“Water is a gift from God,” he added. “The invalidation of the QSA was a gift from (Sacramento Superior Court) Judge (Roland ) Candee.”
The district should use those gifts to better the communities and the lives of Valley residents, Ralph Menvielle said. And DuMars can help because he is honest and well-respected, he said.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Meeting glance
Here are five things that came out of Tuesday’s Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors meeting
1 IID staff updated the board on the energy cost adjustment rate for August.
2 The board approved $200,000 cost overrun for Rio Vista Substation cleanup in Brawley.
3 IID staff to begin public awareness campaign against illegal dumping.
4 IID staff is looking into storms on Monday and the potential damage they caused for the water system at fields near Holtville.
5 The board approved a negotiating agreement with a solar company for San Diego State University’s Brawley site project.
“Everyone seems to want the same thing,” he said. “They just want this Valley to be here, and they want the water rights to be here. It’s (the Quantification Settlement Agreement) just a complex web of interrelated relationships that have to be worked through to understand how to do it.
“Basically that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
Nearly every seat in the IID’s William Condit Auditorium in El Centro was filled with farmers, lawyers and other interested parties while still others lined the back wall, waiting to hear Charles T. DuMars talk about the plan B process for the QSA that DuMars’ New Mexico-based law firm will be working on in the coming months.
DuMars was hired in August to help come up with a contingency plan for the QSA, a set of agreements to transfer IID entitlement water to other Southern California water districts. The 2010 court invalidation of the agreement is being appealed.
DuMars said the report his law firm — Law & Resource Planning Associates — will prepare in the coming months will look at a variety of issues, including the legal landscape the agreement faces, the economics behind it and the environmental cost. That information on the potential issues IID will face and recommendations will be given to the board, with any policy decision to come from the directors.
The IID board has simplified some of the process, having set principles for any water transfer earlier this year, DuMars said. Those principles boil down to preserving the present water rights as long as possible, maintaining sustainable agriculture, making sure the district can cover the cost of its water infrastructure and dealing with the receding Salton Sea.
Directors and residents questioned DuMars on the work he will do in the coming months.
It’s great that the district is getting another opinion on the water transfer, said Ronnie Leimgruber, chairman of the district’s Water Conservation Advisory Board and a Holtville farmer. Leimgruber said he just hopes those coming up with plan B listen to more than just the directors, who have a vested interest in keeping the water transfer alive.
Some directors have put a lot of time and effort into defending the QSA, and as such are more hesitant to throw away that work, Leimgruber said. Directors also seem more interested in getting re-elected, rather than focusing on what needs to be done, he said.
Leimgruber added the directors don’t listen to the biggest water users, the farmers, and are more focused on other issues instead of fixing the problematic water transfer.
He said he wants DuMars, as an outside, independent lawyer, to listen to more than just the Board of Directors, but also those with dissenting views.
Others complemented the hiring of DuMars as a progressive step forward.
Former IID Director Ralph Menvielle said DuMars is “what IID and Imperial Valley need to get us through this maze called the QSA,” he said. “What the IID and the Valley don’t need is the QSA in its present form.
“Water is a gift from God,” he added. “The invalidation of the QSA was a gift from (Sacramento Superior Court) Judge (Roland ) Candee.”
The district should use those gifts to better the communities and the lives of Valley residents, Ralph Menvielle said. And DuMars can help because he is honest and well-respected, he said.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Meeting glance
Here are five things that came out of Tuesday’s Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors meeting
1 IID staff updated the board on the energy cost adjustment rate for August.
2 The board approved $200,000 cost overrun for Rio Vista Substation cleanup in Brawley.
3 IID staff to begin public awareness campaign against illegal dumping.
4 IID staff is looking into storms on Monday and the potential damage they caused for the water system at fields near Holtville.
5 The board approved a negotiating agreement with a solar company for San Diego State University’s Brawley site project.
