A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 4, 2007
2. Supply
IID facing a tight deadline
By Darren Simon, staff writer
Imagine having to find a way to conserve water in your household through steps that would forever change the way you use water.
Imagine having to make such permanent changes under a deadline so tight it leaves little room to test and implement your conservation program.
And if you failed to meet that deadline, your neighbors could sue you for breaching a pact that called for you to take some of your conserved water and transfer it to them.
That is the reality the Imperial Irrigation District is facing — on a scale that by 2026 could have the district spend $100 million on a proposed water conservation program, the so-called Definite Plan.
That plan calls for the district to conserve hundreds of thousands of acres of water per year for up to 75 years for transfer to other
The water transfers and the proposed Definite Plan are key components of one of the most controversial water pacts the district has ever approved, the Quantification Settlement Agreement.
Adopted in 2003, the QSA is a multi-water agency and multi-government pact that calls for
While not a part of the original QSA, the district did later agree to conserve water for the first 15 years of the pact by fallowing farmland. When you fallow, you take that land out of production as a means of saving water.
Fallowing is hotly debated means of saving water and one IID officials say they want to abandon as soon as possible but to do so would mean having other conservation programs in place.
The deadline for IID to end the fallowing program and implement other conservation methods is 2017.
That means the district has less than eight years to implement a plan that would completely revamp its water delivery system and change the way farmers use water.
“The Definite Plan offers the
But, the clock is ticking against the district.
While IID has until 2017 to fully implement conservation programs, the district cannot wait that long to test and launch such measures.
The district must begin to implement conservation steps now to ensure those programs will save water, said IID’s
“I need an answer within 60 days,” Eckhardt said, adding it rests with the IID Board of Directions to give him the green light to move forward.
He said if IID does not begin what he called pilot conservation projects now, the district may not be ready to move away from fallowing by the 2017 deadline.
“We need to get the hell out fallowing,” said IID Director
Eckhardt said he is unsure what it would mean to the district if it missed that deadline.
“It could mean more fallowing,” he said. “It could mean a breach of contract.” #
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