Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
February 19, 2008
1. Top Items
Vegas mayor's comment irks locals - Imperial Valley Press
Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman brings water war to boil; Goodman: We'll take from SoCal farmers if needed - Desert Sun
Mayor of Las Vegas may have opened multistate water war - North County Times
SoCal water authority takes issue with Las Vegas mayor's comments - Associated Press
Vegas mayor's comment irks locals
By Brianna Lusk, staff writer
Water has been liquid gold for the Imperial Valley and for the city of
Here it is funneled onto agriculture fields that reap salad greens, cattle feed and fruit.
So it came as no surprise to Brawley-area farmer John Benson that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman holds his city’s water needs higher than the Valley’s.
Goodman was quoted as saying no one would allow Vegas to dry up.
“The
“I understand that Mr. Goodman has made a political career of outrageous statements,” said Benson, who is farming and fallowing some of his fields. “If he wants to make flippant statements, more power to him. But it’s meaningless.”
Benson, also a Brawley city councilman, said it isn’t the first time the
Water use is an ongoing battle between agriculture and urban users, he said, as evidenced by a claim a
“They said that we should not be able to use water except on human food. But alfalfa becomes human food when it goes through a cow,” Benson said.
Phone calls made to Goodman’s office and the city’s public information offices were not returned Monday.
Goodman was reportedly responding to a question about a scientific study projecting that Lake Mead, the reservoir used to hold
Last year the Imperial Irrigation District entered into a landmark agreement that was designed to plan for future water droughts and prevent water wars. That agreement included the district that supplies water to
The IID is also part of the nation’s largest ag-to-urban water transfer, district spokesman Kevin Kelley said.
“I think the mayor of
Goodman’s suggestion of fallowing more local farmland was particularly offensive, Kelley said, given the impact fallowing has already had as water is being transferred to the coast.
“I don’t think there’s any appreciation of the socio-economic impacts of fallowing on an area like ours,” Kelley said.
This year 70,000 acre-feet of water is expected to be generated by fallowing as 20,000 acres of fields will lie dormant.
The IID board has vowed to never enter into another water transfer after the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement, a 75-year pact that has been hotly contested and is still being litigated.
Nicole Rothfleisch, director of the Imperial County Farm Bureau, said Goodman’s words were “fighting words.”
The suggestion that food produced by local farms is less valuable than
“What does
Goodman entered his third four-year term as mayor last year and is known for his outspoken and often controversial commentary.
Though the laws of the Colorado River Compact would prevent
“If the Valley is looked at as the sole means of these urban areas continuing to grow their populations and economies, then at what point are they satisfied? If you carry that line of thinking out to its logical conclusion there will be no water left in the
The historic drought along the
Benson said as fallowing continues and the drought worsens, it drives up the cost of commodities.
“When there’s a drought, prices are sky-high. Prices are high but production is cut back. They will have a real tough time getting ground fallowed,” Benson said.
Fallowing, a struggle that farmers contend with every day, was mocked by Goodman’s comment, Kelley said.
“We have a noble cause on our side,” Rothfleisch said. “Our farmers are passionate about water and their livelihood and their heritage.
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2008/02/19/local_news/news01.txt
Desert Sun – 2/17/08
By Keith Matheny, staff writer
If necessary,
"No one is going to allow us to dry up," Mayor Oscar Goodman said at a news conference Thursday. "The
Goodman's comments stirred already simmering tensions in the agriculture-vs.-urban battle over an increasingly scarce Western water supply. Ramifications of that clash could be felt here in the desert.
Coachella Valley Water District general manager Steve Robbins called Goodman's comments "ridiculous and inflammatory."
"I would have to say to a comment as bold as that: We'll see you at the battlefront," Robbins said Friday.
Goodman was responding to a question about a new scientific study projecting that Lake Mead, the major repository for the
Lake Mead is the nation's largest manmade lake and reservoir in the
The mayor's comments are "the latest in a series of salvos directed at the farms and fields of the
This isn't the first time officials in large, parched Southwestern cities have eyed the water supplies of
IID receives more
The Coachella Valley Water District also receives more than Nevada - 320,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water per year, escalating over time to 456,000 acre-feet per year.
One acre-foot equals about 327,000 gallons of water, or the amount of water a typical
The federal Bureau of Reclamation, in conjunction with lower basin states, last year devised plans for how to divide
Ag-to-urban water transfers are a sensitive subject in the
It's meant fallowing, or leaving unused, portions of farmers' fields. The deal was to include reimbursements from
The IID board of directors has passed resolutions stating they support no further transfers of water out of the
Westmorland farmer Al Kalin understands the
Diana Paul, a spokeswoman for the city of
An expert on Colorado River law said Friday that taking
"I think (Goodman) was making a kind of political gauntlet statement, rather than a statement based on legal rights," said Robert Adler, a law professor at the
A "political end-run" would likely result in protracted litigation at the U.S. Supreme Court, Adler said. "The parties are probably better off trying to renegotiate," he said.
Increasingly desperate cities are willing to pay hundr
eds, even thousands of dollars per acre-foot of water that IID farmers get for a $17 per acre-foot delivery fee.
The conditions that make IID's water supply coveted aren't likely to change soon, Kelley said.
"The appetite for more water to fuel more urban growth isn't going to subside," he said. But IID can't be seen as the solution to the West's water woes, he said.
"Isn't
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/NEWS07/802170336/1026/news12
Mayor of
PALM SPRINGS - The flamboyant mayor of
Mayor Oscar Goodman's comments come as officials from
Goodman reportedly said last week that farmers in
"We'll see you at the battlefront," Goodman was quoted as saying by the Desert Sun newspaper of
Battles over
In
The Imperial Irrigation District views the
Farms in the Coachella and Imperial valleys are called the breadbasket of the southwest, and crops and animals grown there feed much of the country, including
Farms in
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/18/news/sandiego/17_25_082_17_08.txt
SoCal water authority takes issue with
Associated Press – 2/17/08
COACHELLA,
Mayor Oscar Goodman stirred controversy when he said
"No one is going to allow us to dry up," Goodman said at a news conference Thursday, according to The Desert Sun newspaper. "The
Coachella Valley Water District general manager Steve Robbins shot back Friday.
"I would have to say to a comment as bold as that: We'll see you at the battlefront," Robbins said.
Goodman was responding to a question about a study from
His comments fueled tensions in the debate over how much of the increasingly scarce Western water supply should go to cities and what portion should be reserved for crops.
The mayor's comments are "the latest in a series of salvos directed at the farms and fields of the
A message left at Goodman's office Sunday night was not immediately returned. #
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8291778
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