Imperial Irrigation District directors have asked for contingency plans in case the nation’s largest agricultural-to-urban water transfer doesn’t last.
District staff gave an update on the Quantification Settlement Agreement, discussions that have been happening regularly with the Board of Directors in closed session but not in public session.
General Manager Kevin Kelley said that he has been negotiating with other water agencies and the Bureau of Reclamation for the past several months over a dispute between the Metropolitan Water District of Los Angeles and IID about early mitigation water to the Salton Sea. These talks have come to focus on the broader issue of fortifying the joint powers authority established by the QSA to mitigate effects of fallowing to the Salton Sea.
Kelley gave a statement on what continue to be confidential negotiations between the groups about the QSA and mitigation of the Salton Sea.
The QSA is currently on appeal from a decision last year that invalidated the set of agreements based on a requirement that the state’s mitigation plan begins after 2017. A decision from the appellate court is expected early next year.
In any case, talks between the agencies having to do with the Salton Sea restoration and funding the joint powers agreement will have to take place, and it is better that they occur now rather than later, Kelley said.
“I believe this board can be fairly confident of two things. The first is that, regardless of the disposition of the QSA appeal, water will continue to be transferred from the farms and fields of the Imperial Valley to urban Southern California,” Kelley said.
“The second is that, like the roads that led to ancient Rome, any water transfer agreement will have to pass through the concentrated environmental lens of the Salton Sea,” he added. “There’s simply no way around it, nor should there be.”
Directors Jim Hanks and Stella Mendoza asked for alternatives for the Salton Sea because of the uncertainty of the QSA.
“From a realistic standpoint, the QSA is in jeopardy,” Hanks said. “For us as board, as a team here, I think it’d be unrealistic for us not to have a plan B.”
There are going to be adjustments no matter what the ruling is, he said. The district needs to be prepared with other plans.
The IID has clarified its position on the Salton Sea earlier this year in a resolution calling for the state to fulfill its responsibility to the region by adopting and funding a feasible restoration plan. The state’s preferred plan is estimated to cost about $9 billion though no funding has been identified since the plan was chosen in 2007.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Meeting glance
Here are three things that came out of Tuesday’s IID board meeting:
1 The board ratified its April decision to lower the energy cost adjustment rate from 5.01 cents per kilowatt hour to 4.19 cents per kilowatt hour.
2 Some district staff will start implementing a 9-80 work schedule pilot program through the next several weeks, including staff for bill paying and meter reading in order to expand operating hours.
3 Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program asked for $30,000 to continue to educate children from around the county about environmental issues. The board is set to take up the decision in July.
District staff gave an update on the Quantification Settlement Agreement, discussions that have been happening regularly with the Board of Directors in closed session but not in public session.
General Manager Kevin Kelley said that he has been negotiating with other water agencies and the Bureau of Reclamation for the past several months over a dispute between the Metropolitan Water District of Los Angeles and IID about early mitigation water to the Salton Sea. These talks have come to focus on the broader issue of fortifying the joint powers authority established by the QSA to mitigate effects of fallowing to the Salton Sea.
Kelley gave a statement on what continue to be confidential negotiations between the groups about the QSA and mitigation of the Salton Sea.
The QSA is currently on appeal from a decision last year that invalidated the set of agreements based on a requirement that the state’s mitigation plan begins after 2017. A decision from the appellate court is expected early next year.
In any case, talks between the agencies having to do with the Salton Sea restoration and funding the joint powers agreement will have to take place, and it is better that they occur now rather than later, Kelley said.
“I believe this board can be fairly confident of two things. The first is that, regardless of the disposition of the QSA appeal, water will continue to be transferred from the farms and fields of the Imperial Valley to urban Southern California,” Kelley said.
“The second is that, like the roads that led to ancient Rome, any water transfer agreement will have to pass through the concentrated environmental lens of the Salton Sea,” he added. “There’s simply no way around it, nor should there be.”
Directors Jim Hanks and Stella Mendoza asked for alternatives for the Salton Sea because of the uncertainty of the QSA.
“From a realistic standpoint, the QSA is in jeopardy,” Hanks said. “For us as board, as a team here, I think it’d be unrealistic for us not to have a plan B.”
There are going to be adjustments no matter what the ruling is, he said. The district needs to be prepared with other plans.
The IID has clarified its position on the Salton Sea earlier this year in a resolution calling for the state to fulfill its responsibility to the region by adopting and funding a feasible restoration plan. The state’s preferred plan is estimated to cost about $9 billion though no funding has been identified since the plan was chosen in 2007.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Meeting glance
Here are three things that came out of Tuesday’s IID board meeting:
1 The board ratified its April decision to lower the energy cost adjustment rate from 5.01 cents per kilowatt hour to 4.19 cents per kilowatt hour.
2 Some district staff will start implementing a 9-80 work schedule pilot program through the next several weeks, including staff for bill paying and meter reading in order to expand operating hours.
3 Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program asked for $30,000 to continue to educate children from around the county about environmental issues. The board is set to take up the decision in July.
