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Imperial Irrigation District seeks Salton Sea consideration in lawsuit over Colorado River water

Mark Olalde
Palm Springs Desert Sun

The Imperial Irrigation District has filed its opening brief in a case against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that it launched last year in an attempt to halt the implementation of the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan for the Colorado River. IID wants to see it paused until the Salton Sea is also considered.

The two behemoths in the world of Western water are locking horns in court over the plan, which is an agreement made between California, Nevada and Arizona to keep more water in Lake Mead, the man-made lake created by the Hoover Dam. Nearly 40 million people rely on water from the Colorado River system, but growing demand across the West and a warming climate are threatening the important waterway.

IID delivers several million acre feet of water annually to nearly 500,000 acres of largely agricultural land in the Imperial Valley. Metropolitan, meanwhile, sells water to 26 agencies around Southern California that serve nearly 19 million people. The outcome of the litigation could have ramifications for water use and the environment throughout Southern California and the Colorado River Basin.

In its 38-page brief filed on July 8, IID attorneys argue that Metropolitan's approval of the Drought Contingency Plan in March 2019 was improper because it did not include an environmental analysis conducted under the California Environmental Quality Act. IID asked the court to stop Metropolitan from acting on its plan until a CEQA review had been completed.

"That is really the crux of IID's lawsuit here," said Antonio Ortega, IID's government affairs and communications officer. "CEQA mandates that all government entities look at potential environmental impacts, and it was meant to protect things like — in our opinion — unintended impacts to California's largest body of water, the Salton Sea."

IID is a key stakeholder in the ongoing attempts to tamp down toxic dust billowing from the lake's exposed playa as it continues losing water. According to the Pacific Institute, a California-based think tank, the Salton Sea has dropped more than 9 feet since 2003, exposing more than 15,000 acres of dry land.

In a statement sent to The Desert Sun, Metropolitan General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said the the two water agencies already spoke about the Salton Sea when the Drought Contingency Plan was created.

"During that negotiation, we worked closely with IID to ensure that the agreement has no adverse impacts on the Salton Sea, as the water contributions made to Lake Mead will not affect the amount of water flowing into the sea," Kightlinger said.

But in its court filing, IID questioned the math underpinning Metropolitan's contribution to the Drought Contingency Plan, saying it "relied on statistical slight-of-hand" that needed to be studied further.

A canal carries water through agricultural fields on the Elmore Farm near Brawley, April 11, 2019.

Between amendments to the plan in December 2018 and March 2019, Metropolitan said it would take over what had originally been IID's responsibility to keep 250,000 acre feet of water in Lake Mead over the first two years when it eventually fell to the level that would trigger the Drought Contingency Plan. This was a "sudden and abrupt departure" from earlier decisions and cut IID out from the negotiations, the rural water agency alleged in its court filings.

IID's attorneys wrote that relying less on Colorado River water has already hurt California's environment by drawing more heavily on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and by drying up the excess irrigation water that once flowed from Imperial Valley fields into the Salton Sea.

“IID maintains that the Salton Sea is an integral part of the Colorado River system and its decline presents a severe public health and environmental crisis not only to the Imperial and Coachella Valleys but the greater Southern California region," IID board President Norma Sierra Galindo said in a statement announcing the litigation.

Kightlinger, however, lauded the plan.

"Over the last year, we’ve already seen what happens when we work together to protect the Colorado River," he said. "The Lower Basin states are conserving and storing more water than had been anticipated. Lake Mead is now 11 feet above the shortage level."

The Coachella Valley Water District, the Palo Verde Irrigation District in Blythe and the city of Needles are also listed as interested parties on the brief, as they are the other three agencies within California that have rights to divert water from the Colorado River.

Ortega said Metropolitan has until September 25 to file its response.

Mark Olalde covers the environment for The Desert Sun. Get in touch at molalde@gannett.com, and follow him on Twitter at @MarkOlalde.