Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
April 3, 2007
1. Top Item
IID under the gun to save water
By Darren Simon, staff writer
The message during an Imperial Irrigation District workshop Monday on a water conservation plan was clear — the “world” is watching.
“We have to show the world we know how to measure water,”
At issue is the fact IID must conserve water — enough to serve 600,000 households in
Just how the district does that is a question IID officials and local farmers have been wrestling with since 2003, when a controversial 75-year water pact, the Quantification Settlement Agreement, was approved.
The QSA scales back California’s use of the Colorado River while at the same time looking to the IID to conserve water to quench the thirst of the San Diego County Water Authority and the Coachella Valley Water District.
On Monday, Eckhardt and a team of water conservation experts presented what is being called the Definite Plan, which spells out recommendations for saving water over the next 75 years.
The conservation effort is expected to cost up to $60 million annually, and revenue from water transfers is expected to cover the costs.
While the IID board took no action on the proposed water conservation plan, the board could take action as early as May on at least a portion of it.
The recommendation calls for the district to implement millions of dollars in system upgrades designed to capture seepage from canals and automate much of IID’s system of water gates, which release water to fields.
The recommendation also calls for a voluntary on-farm conservation program where farmers would implement systems to keep water from flowing off their fields into agricultural drains.
Farmers would be paid for the water conservation, plus, according to the recommendation, they would receive incentive pay for the success of their conservation effort.
Cliff Hurley, a local resident, raised concern about the recommendations, saying the board is being asked to approve a water conservation program without knowing a current baseline for how much water farmers are using on their fields.
“If you are going to have water accounting and you need water accounting, then you must know the baseline,” Hurley said.
Eckhardt acknowledged the board is going to need to know baseline information, but he said that is going to take time to develop.
“We don’t want to pay for paper water,” Eckhardt said, meaning the district doesn’t want to pay farmers to conserve water without first knowing how much water farmers are using.
Director
“We’ll get a baseline figured out before we vote on this,” Menvielle said. #
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/04/03/news/news02.txt
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