A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 13, 2007
2. Supply -
Water future is now -
MID backs study on more water for
Part of plan has OID placing a surplus in
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Water future is now
By Darren Simon, Staff Writer
When the Imperial Irrigation District board started to discuss the idea of water rationing in 2006, it seemed to be an action that might come years down the line.
It was to be a temporary solution to an emergency situation where water supply was failing to meet demand.
That future has arrived — and a water-rationing program that would impact everyone from farmers, to homeowners to industrial users could start as early as Jan. 1.
That was the sentiment Tuesday as the Imperial Irrigation District board said the time has come to declare that available water supplies cannot meet the local demand.
Since Tuesday’s meeting was merely informational, the board could not make such a declaration.
It will, however, likely come next week.
Once the board declares a lack of water supplies, that triggers the implementation of a water rationing program, but it will take until the first of the year to implement the program
“With the district on track to exceed its annual water entitlement for the second year in a row, and the Colorado River system in a perpetual state of drought, the time has come for IID to send an unmistakable signal to its water users — and the world at large — that it intends to deal proactively with the changed environment in which it finds itself,” IID General Manager Charles Hosken.
He added: “That is why the board must act now to declare a supply/demand imbalance with the IID service area.”
Just how a water-rationing program, which IID officials have referred to as equitable distribution, will impact water users has not yet been finalized.
But a methodology adopted in 2006 by the IID board calls on the district to set a specific amount of water for farmers, cities and industry.
It also creates what IID officials have called a water bank where if one farmer has excess water, that farmer can sell the water to other farmers within the district’s service area.
IID would hold the reins of any such water bank and monitor such water sales within the system.
One point IID officials want to make clear is that enacting equitable distribution does not equate to handing over water rights to the farmers.
The IID will continue to control the flow of water.
“It’s a right to use the water, not own the water,” IID Director John Pierre Menvielle said of the proposed equitable distribution program.
Water rationing is a controversial subject in the Valley.
It comes as the Valley is learning to live with less water in the wake of the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement, a 75-year water pact meant to prevent water wars between states.
The QSA cut the Valley’s water supply to 3.1 million acre-feet per year at a time when farming, industrial and residential demands are increasing.
The Valley also is dealing with the QSA’s inclusion of an agriculture-to-urban water transfer to
Those who spoke to the IID board urged it to be fair when rationing water.
“Please think in the American way,” said local farmer Clyde Shields. “By that I mean be fair to all concerned.”#
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/06/13/news/news03.txt
MID backs study on more water for
Part of plan has OID placing a surplus in
By Michael G. Mooney
Having secured the Modesto Irrigation District's blessing, the Oakdale Irrigation District will begin serious study of a plan that would allow San Francisco more
Members of the MID board of directors, on a 4-1 vote Tuesday, gave its sister irrigation district permission to launch a feasibility study spelling out exactly how the proposal would work.
Generally,
That water normally would flow into Don Pedro Reservoir through the
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission would pay Oakdale to put a like amount of water into Modesto Reservoir, creating a surplus and ensuring that there would be no net water loss to the MID or its customers.
But many details remain unknown and will require years of study before the proposal becomes a reality.
MID director Mike Serpa, who cast the dissenting vote, said he needed more information before he could support OID's study request.
"My responsibility is and will be to the ratepayers of my district," he said. "Clearly, the 'gold rush' of the 21st century is upon us, only it's a water rush. There must be literally zero impact to (MID). There are a myriad of unknowns."
Among Serpa's concerns: the possibility of degraded water quality, a loss of hydroelectric generation capacity and legal problems created by "commingling" the OID's designated surplus water with MID water.
Serpa wondered if that commingling would create legal problems because the MID repeatedly has stated over the years that it doesn't have surplus water.
Attorney Tim O'Laughlin, MID's interim general counsel, said there would be no legal problems, because the two districts hold separate water rights.
O'Laughlin, who also provides legal advice to the OID, said he was not advocating for either side.
Some of Serpa's MID colleagues argued that's precisely why a more detailed study of the concept is needed: to determine what, if any, problems might occur as a result of the proposed water transfer.
"I'm all for more information," MID director Paul Warda said. "Let's go ahead (with the study)."
For years,
But the TID and the MID control water in the
That's not the case in the Oakdale district, which already transfers 41,000 acre-feet of surplus water a year to agencies outside its boundaries.
The OID draws its water from the
Since 2000, the district has transferred water to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Stockton East Water District under three separate contracts.
Those contracts will expire in 2010.
OID General Manager Steve Knell, who along with OID board vice president Jack Alpers, attended Tuesday's MID meeting, said the district is in desperate need of major upgrades.
Money generated by the water transfer, they said, will be used to fund $168 million worth of repairs over the next 20 years.
After the MID meeting, both men said the idea was to study the proposal from all angles to ensure that the MID and the TID would not be harmed in any way by the proposed water transfer.
"It will be nice to get to the table so we can begin talking about this," Alpers said.
While SFPUC officials have indicated that the city could need as much as an additional 40,000 acre-feet of water a year, Alpers said the exact amount must be worked out.
Alpers said the ultimate transfer amount will depend upon how much water Modesto Reservoir can handle.
He also said the OID would place clean water into the reservoir and that the utility would not lose hydroelectric generating capacity.#
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/13684240p-14274165c.html
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