Imperial Irrigation District projects water overrun
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 9, 2008 at 7:41 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press Online:
The Imperial Irrigation District’s projected water usage continues to swell thousands of acre-feet over its allotment for the year.
Water Manager Mike King said Tuesday the district is estimated to overrun its share of the Colorado River by 100,000 acre-feet so far. At this time last year, a projected overrun of 75,000 acre-feet led the IID board to declare a supply-demand imbalance that was later rescinded as the overrun diminished.
One farmer approached the Board of Directors with a whiteboard and asked that the board keep track publicly of the district’s use and projected overrun. “We have to get control of this over usage,” Craig Elmore of Brawley said.
With the snow pack completely melted and no longer flowing into the Lower Colorado River Basin, the board will have to decide whether to declare a supply-demand imbalance for next year soon. Declaring a supply-demand imbalance would trigger a water-rationing program for agriculture users in the Imperial Valley.
Whether that will be necessary remains to be seen. “We’ve got a long way to go before we’re done,” King said of this year’s water demands.
Read more from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Holtville’s artesian wells are bust, not boon
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 3, 2008 at 7:53 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
Between a credit union parking lot and a crumbling laundry room for a dilapidated apartment building is a flow of Valley liquid gold. It’s an unlikely site to find a stream of clear water, bubbling to the surface from hundreds of feet below. It could be transformed into an oasis in the desert, a spring of artesian water to be bottled or a source of ever-flowing need in a statewide drought. But for now, it’s a city nuisance.
In the last couple of months an artesian well east of Holtville’s city square in an inconspicuous gravel alley has erupted into a producer of an estimated 14,000 gallons a day. Although the well is not unique, there are six known sites believed to be tapped into the same aquifer. Recent seismic activity made it overflow.
The alley was flooded as city staff replaced a 1-inch drainage pipe with a 4-inch pipe to handle the additional flow. “It definitely increased after the earthquakes but we don’t have any kind of scientific data,” Holtville Public Works manager Gerry Peacher said. Since a series of earthquakes in May, the output has nearly quadrupled, Peacher estimated.
And it shows no sign of stopping.
Read the full text of this article from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Site chosen for managed marsh project to be implemented as part of QSA
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 26, 2008 at 7:57 am
From the Imperial Valley Press:
After several years of delay, a proposed site has been chosen for the Imperial Irrigation District’s managed marsh project. This week the IID board voted to select land owned by the district to implement a component of the controversial 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement. IID General Manager Brian Brady said the site chosen, east of the Salton Sea and north of Calipatria, is the least productive farmland among the sites considered.
The zoning designation on the land also allows for mixed use, and geothermal exploration in the area would still be possible, Brady said.
“This is an important component of the QSA,” Brady said. The 75-year water pact that has seen conserved water transferred to the coast from the Imperial Valley continues to be fought in a state court.
Meanwhile, conservation efforts must go forward, officials said. Brady said if the project were not built, it would leave the IID vulnerable to giving up more water to the metropolitan areas.
Director Mike Abatti raised questions as to where the water would come from, it’s location, and if the project should even be started at all, citing pending litigation:
Abatti submitted comments to Tina Shields, assistant Water Department manager, earlier this year on the project and noted he believed it was premature to implement components of the QSA “while the QSA is still being litigated.”
Abatti also cited concerns about where the water is going to come from and suggested the project should use land that is not being farmed.
Abatti said he is using reclaimed wastewater, and that tailwater for the project should be an option instead of stretching the district’s shrinking water allocation.
The volume of water to be used, Hanks said, is still an issue if it is not reclaimed for other use. “It’s time to look at reclamation,” Hanks said. “If people (on the coast) see 15,000 to 20,000 acre-feet being used in a marshland, they may question where we’re headed.”
Read the full text of this article from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
IID ahead of drought curve; QSA seen as protection: “The QSA puts us in a really safe place,” says official
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 7, 2008 at 9:03 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
The declaration of a statewide drought this week has prompted water agencies to take action in imposing rationing and campaigns to conserve. It came as no surprise to Imperial Irrigation District officials who said Friday it is ahead of the curve when it comes to conservation.
But as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered immediate action to be taken by the Department of Water resources, among them is the facilitation of one thing IID officials have vowed never to do again: water transfers.
IID Legal Counsel Jeff Garber said Friday that the district’s participation in the controversial 2003 water pact, the Quantification Settlement Agreement, is the shelter from the water storm. “The QSA protects us from being attacked by some of the other agencies. It’s a shield for the next 45 to 75 years,” Garber said. “The QSA puts us in a really safe place.”
With the largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer already under way, IID General Manager Brian Brady said though transfers were emphasized by Schwarzenegger as a way to meet water needs in dry areas, IID is already on track. “There are major conservation elements in the QSA which IID is obligated to meet. We’re committed to capturing those conservation benefits,” Brady said.
The Imperial County Farm Bureau said that although the impact of drought in other parts of the state has not yet been felt in Imperial County, that could change over time. Crops abandoned or not produced in the San Joaquin Valley could put more pressure on Imperial County to make up the shortfall.
The Metropolitan Water District, a partner in the QSA, has already begun drawing on its reserve supplies to meet its needs. In the weeks to come the overarching Southern California district is ramping up conservation efforts in the six counties it serves. “We are rapidly entering a new and worrisome water era, highlighted by a record dry spring,” Timothy Brick, chairman of the MWD board of directors said. “There is no guarantee Southern California can replenish reserve supplies whenever this drought cycle ends.”
IID officials said although the drought declaration may bring knocks on the door, the board has vowed not to partake in future water transfers. The QSA, Brady said, is a critical component of protecting IID’s allotment of the Colorado River, among the top priorities of the state, from urban use. “The governor’s declaration puts an exclamation point on the importance of and the benefits of the QSA,” Brady said.
However, a pilot program for conservation attracted only 20 volunteers, rendering it useless. Brady said it is not indicative of Imperial Valley farmers willingness to conserve and that IID needed to reevaluate it’s outreach efforts.
Whether the drought in the state and the Colorado River basin will eventually stretch IID’s allotment to its limits remains to be seen. “Even with our strong water rights, there are no guarantees. Everyone is going to have to do their part to deal with this issue — the farmers, the cities, the politicians and even the environment,” Rothfleisch said.
Read the full text of this article from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Salton Sea air still up in air; there is concern for air quality in the region as the shoreline recedes
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 28, 2008 at 6:33 am
From the Imperial Valley Press:
The future restoration of the Salton Sea is a $9 billion question mark in the hands of the state. Last week a bill that would have established the governance for the Salton Sea Restoration Council died on the state Senate floor for lack of a vote.
The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors heard from an environmental attorney Tuesday on the implications of air-quality issues along the receding shoreline.
Ellen Spellman, whose firm is contracted by the district to oversee the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement legalities, spoke about liability, emissions and restoration. Spellman said environmental studies have shown the exposure of the shoreline is inevitable but predicting what kind of emissions will be mixed into the air is unknown. “This is an area of great uncertainty,” Spellman said.
Air quality in the Imperial County already has difficulty meeting state and federal standards, and the eventual shrinking of the Salton Sea is only bound to make things worse:
An estimated 45,000 acres will be exposed in the next 70 years due to the transfer of water and the diminishing inflows to the sea. Determining who is legally liable for the emissions, Spellman told the board, will depend on why the shoreline receded. “IID is responsible for mitigating air quality impacts from shoreline exposed by the transfer,” Spellman said.
Read the full text of this story from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
IID not quite ready to implement Garcia’s compromise 6 point-plan
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 28, 2008 at 6:09 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
The Imperial Irrigation District board delayed implementing the six-point plan reached with Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, on Tuesday. At the urging of the Energy Consumer Advisory Committee, the board tabled the plan until the organization can make some recommendations on the compromise.
The ECAC, which will be reconstituted as part of the agreement, discussed the energy action plan. “It’s time for her to back away and allow the ECAC to discuss a long-term plan,” said Gil Perez, a member of the committee.
There seems to be some confusion about representation on the committee, which is to be reformed as a result of the compromise. The committee wants more time to make it’s recommendations:
“We strongly believe there is a lot of merit in the six-point plan,” Perez said. “But there is room for improvement.” A subcommittee of the ECAC is scheduled to work on recommendations before the board’s next meeting in La Quinta on June 10.
“Clearly she is concerned about allowing the community to become more involved in the IID policy development. So we believe she should also be able to detect the basic hypocrisy of denying community input in a plan designed to get more community input,” Perez said.
Read the full text of this article from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
IID’s fallowing program falls short
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 23, 2008 at 6:36 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
With the rising prices of commodities, the Imperial Irrigation District has found itself competing against the market for water. IID Water Manager Mike King said the number of acres that will be left idle in the next year to conserve water for transfer is about 5,000 acre-feet short.
The district raised the incentives for fallowing this year for farmers to $85 an acre-foot in order to entice more to participate. “We knew this year we would be competing against the wheat,” King said. “I’ve heard the wheat prices are good next year. We’re going to look at what we can do to the fallowing program to overhaul it.”
As part of the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement, fallowing fields is used in part to meet the water transfer requirements. Fallowing is scheduled to be phased out by on-farm conservation and water saving efforts by 2018. Until then volunteers are sought each year to fallow and the same land cannot be fallowed more than two years in a row.
King said an average of 50 percent of those who apply for the fallowing program eventually turn the contract down. “Part of it is due to the adjustment we make on the trending analysis,” King said. The analysis looks at the usage of water on the field in the last three years. “They think they’re going to get paid more so they pull out,” he added.
With summer quickly approaching, King informed the board last week that the district might have to declare a supply demand imbalance next year if water conditions persist.
IID is estimated to have an overrun of 75,000 acre-feet this year. Last year similar estimates were predicted but the actual overrun was minimal.
IID board Director James Hanks said it’s an indication that the district will have to get more water from conservation to meet the transfer requirements. “I think we’re going to have to move towards on-farm conservation sooner than expected,” Hanks said.
Read the full text of this story from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Idle land brings hard times to the Imperial Valley
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 18, 2008 at 6:41 am
From the Imperial Valley Press:
Over the years the acreage of Robert Slaton’s family farm has been pared down. Now less than 100 acres behind his home is what amounts to the hay field, adding to the work he gets as a hay cutter and hauler.
But two years ago one of the farmers Slaton depended on for work began fallowing his crops. The work Slaton had was divided with another contractor and reduced to half. Slaton estimated that accounted for about 20 percent of his business last year. “It’s a pretty serious deal,” Slaton said of the impacts of fallowing. “When you’re getting your regular paycheck chopped off … it’s hard.”
Slaton admits he’s a farm service provider on a much smaller scale than some of the other agriculture businesses around the Valley. He spends much of his time taking care of his elderly mother, who has Parkinson’s disease, in between the demands of the family’s operation.
Since fallowing began in the Imperial Valley in 2003, money has been paid to farmers on a per-acre basis to save water for transfer to the coastal cities. And when there are no fields to plow, no seeds to plant and no harvest to reap, farm service providers, workers and the economy are impacted.
This week the Local Entity, tasked to distribute money to farm service providers and noncompetitive grants to mitigate the impacts of fallowing, completed its duty. It took more than two years and one committee reorganization to get it done. The $3.5 million they awarded, however, was only for the first two years of fallowing. The impacts of the last three years have not been mitigated.
“We’re a few years behind the eight ball already. The decision for the board will be to decide where to proceed from here,” IID Legal Counsel Jeff Garber said.
Nicole Rothfleisch, executive director of the Imperial County Farm Bureau, said farm service providers are the most directly impacted by fallowing. “We’re already once again three years behind,” Rothfleisch said. “Farm service providers are losing the business they would have had on that field.”
Read more from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Imperial Valley’s Local Entity completes its work
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 18, 2008 at 6:33 amAs part of the controversial QSA agreement, funds are available for the Imperial Valley to distribute to help mitigate the effects of fallowing, which have a ripple-effect through the agricultural-based community. The Local Entity is the group that was formed to distribute the mitigation funds, which ideally were to go towards development and re-training for those most affected by the fallowing. From the Imperial Valley Press:
The hardest part is over for the Local Entity and it doesn’t look like it will reconvene.
The Imperial Irrigation District board accepted the Local Entity’s recommendations this week in handing out the final dollars it was tasked to dole out. It’s taken several years just to get the first distribution done.
Now the IID board will decide who will be responsible for handing out the rest of the money in the bank and future payouts from the water transfer agreement. “The IID board needs to take over the Local Entity decisions,” IID Board President John Pierre Menvielle said. “We don’t need to put this on the backburner.”
At stake are the funds that are meant to help mitigate the impacts of farmers keeping acres idle to transfer water to the coast. So far only $3.5 million has been spoken for and IID officials estimate by the year’s end there will be $12 million available for farm service providers and organizations to create jobs and training.
Andy Horne, a former IID director and former original Local Entity member, said it may not be wise to have elected officials deciding where the money goes. “The concept of having a community group that doesn’t have any political agendas or pressure on them is sound,” Horne said. “It probably would have functioned better had it not had elected people like myself.”
Read more from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
IID’s board gets report: fallowing needs will be met, but IID is above its allotted amount of Colorado River water
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 16, 2008 at 5:30 amFrom KXO Radio, earlier this week, IID ’s Mike King gave the fallowing report to the board:
He said the volume of water for the 2008-09 fallowing program is below the 70,000 acre feet of water needed to comply with the Quantification Settlement Agreement, but he said the difference could be made up. With the contracts finished, King said the fallowing program would result in 68,786-acre feet of water.
Also in his report, King said water use in Imperial is exceeding the allotted amount. He said the IID is still about 12,000 acre-feet above its allotted amount of Colorado River water.
Read more from KXO Radio by clicking here.
IID board tackles how to deal with water rate hike protests, and internal governance issues
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 14, 2008 at 6:21 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
As the Imperial Irrigation District is undergoing a water rate and cost of service study, questions are being raised over who can protest if rates are raised.
For instance, an apartment building might have one water meter which serves all tenants. How many of them can protest a water hike and how would that be counted?
Abatti proposed a resolution that would give “one written protest per parcel” on any changes in the water fee.
The solution to the issue is just not that simple, Garber said. Proposition 218, that changed the way public notice and counting of protests was done more than 10 years ago, has been litigated in several court cases since then. Garber said the questions over how you notice property owners or tenants who can protest, and how it is all counted still linger for the district. What types of water charges, residential and irrigation use, the law applies to is also in question.
The board eventually voted to table the issue, with a promise from Garber to return with a full set of regulations that would address water rate-setting changes in the next 30 days.
Director James Hanks also pushed for clearer direction on how the board can proceed if it needs to raise rates in the future. “What we’re looking for is who gets the votes and a process the average person can understand,” Hanks said.
Also from the Imperial Valley Press:
Frustrated by projects over budget and a lack of accurate reporting by staff to the board, Imperial Irrigation District director Mike Abatti said things have to change. “We need ethical reporting, we need accurate reporting,” Abatti said.
The proposed change came before the IID Board of Directors in the way of a proposed change to the governance manual adopted nearly a year ago. Since then, the manual has been altered several times. The proposed amendment, brought forward by Abatti, would add a number of duties to the project management office that would oversee capital projects.
The PMO would also report to the general manager but also have a “functional reporting responsibility to the IID board.”
General Manager Brian Brady said though he agrees the amendment included some positive changes to the governance, he asked the board not to take action before he could integrate needed changes into his strategic planning. “The changes are overly broad,” Brady said.
Read the full text of this article from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Garcia pulls her bill to split the IID
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 3, 2008 at 6:46 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
A bill that Imperial Irrigation District officials said would have been a detriment to its operation and threatened its resources was pulled Tuesday.
Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, reached an agreement with IID to prevent AB 2564 from moving into the preliminary hearing phase scheduled today. The bill could have seen IID energy and water split if Coachella Valley voters made up more than 75 percent of its ratepayers. Currently the Coachella area makes up about 60 percent of IID ratepayers.
With a six-point plan agreed upon, Garcia said the issue of long-term planning has been addressed. “I believe each and every measure contained in the action plan will allow elected officials from both counties to work shoulder-to-shoulder to protect our valuable water and energy resources,” Garcia said.
IID Board President John Pierre Menvielle called the compromise a victory for ratepayers. “The main thing is keeping this thing in local control and working with her to enhance Coachella’s representation,” Menvielle said.
More from the Imperial Valley Press Online by clicking here.
Garcia hopeful for better teamwork between IID & Coachella Valley
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 2, 2008 at 5:43 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia said this week she is confident an agreement reached with the Imperial Irrigation District will lead to more accountability and transparency.
Garcia, R-Cathedral City, pulled the bill she authored that could have seen the district split energy and water if Coachella Valley voters supported it. An agreement was reached with Garcia hours before the bill was to be heard by the local government committee. “That was our goal all along,” Garcia said of the compromise. “Never at any time was it an attempt to dilute the board or move control of the water or energy into anybody else’s hands.”
When reports surfaced of Garcia’s spot bill that was later authored to call for a vote if Coachella customers made up 75 percent of IID’s ratepayers, some called it a resource grab. IID said the legislation would have caused irreparable harm to the district.
Much of the uproar, Garcia said, was caused by the media. “I think that this issue got hijacked by those that would have liked to have seen an adversarial stance on my side or their side,” Garcia said.
The six-point plan includes a long-term energy-planning process set to begin by July 31 and regularly scheduled executive meetings with IID General Manager Brian Brady and elected officials from the Coachella area.
Read more from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Garcia cuts deal with Imperial Irrigation District; all sides seem satisifed with compromise
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 1, 2008 at 5:40 amFrom MyDesert.com:
The Coachella Valley would have a greater say about its power supply from the Imperial Irrigation District under the terms of an agreement announced Tuesday. IID would continue to control the power supply but would give Coachella Valley officials a greater, and more regular, opportunity to comment on planning and staffing decisions that affect customers in the Riverside County part of the district’s service area.
“By working with officials in both counties, you will have a much broader vision and consensus building,” Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, said of the agreement that she negotiated with IID. “There will be more accountability.”
“The IID board is committed to establishing a framework to pursue a sustained and meaningful planning process with elected officials in both Coachella and Imperial valleys,” IID General Manager Brian Brady said in a joint news release with Garcia.
As a result of the agreement, Garcia said she is dropping her bill that eventually could have led to a vote on whether IID’s customers in the Coachella Valley should form their own separate utility for electrical service.
Read the full text of the story from MyDesert.com by clicking here.
In a related editorial, staff of the Desert Sun praised the agreement:
It’s a good compromise and a win for the Coachella Valley and its ratepayers. Congratulations also to Garcia, who worked on this issue with much passion and was able to hammer out an agreement that does not call for additional legislation. Good going, Bonnie.
IID also deserves recognition for the district’s efforts to reach this agreement. Officials could have fought it, but instead are making a commitment to service, calling the move a renewed effort to serve customers.
Under this agreement, IID can move forward and supply better service, and Coachella Valley residents can have a say in that future.
Read the full text of the editorial from MyDesert.com by clicking here.
IID delegation heads to Sacramento to discuss Garcia bill; “we felt very optimistic that they saw and appreciated our perspective”
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 27, 2008 at 6:40 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
The Imperial Irrigation District has taken its fight against Bonnie Garcia’s proposed bill to Sacramento and has found sympathetic ears.
On Wednesday, IID general manager Brian Brady, Board of Directors president John Pierre Menvielle, Director Stella Mendoza and spokesman Kevin Kelley met with elected officials and staff members to discuss Assembly Bill 2564. The group met with and discussed the bill with Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, who chairs the Assembly Local Government Committee. The committee will hear and make a decision on the bill Wednesday.
“From my impressions, in speaking with Assemblywoman Caballero, she really listened to our arguments,” Brady said. “She didn’t come out and express a definite opinion, but I think she appreciated our side of the story. “Bottom line, we felt very optimistic that they saw and appreciated our perspective,” he said.
The bill, proposed by Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, would have Coachella Valley voters decide whether they want their own utility district or continue service with the Imperial Irrigation District in the future. According to the proposed legislation, if the number of Coachella area IID energy customers reaches 75 percent, a vote would be held. There are an estimated 60 percent of IID energy users in the Coachella area.
Menvielle said while the meetings went well, there was confusion on the parts of the people the IID representatives met with. He said many questions were asked about why Garcia was pushing for the bill. He said he believed there were local Imperial Valley forces that were behind the bill and pushing Garcia.
Part of the Garcia bill could lead to the separation of the IID controlling water and power sources. Mendoza said such a split would be detrimental to all of the Imperial Valley. “That’s not going to happen on my watch,” she said. “And in speaking with Ms. Caballero, obviously I can’t speak for her, but I feel very comfortable that this bill would not go forward.”
Read the rest of this story from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Imperial Irrigation District gets a little water credited towards last year’s overuse; also gives $25k to the Salton Sea Authority
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 23, 2008 at 6:32 amFirst, the Salton Sea. From the Imperial Valley Press Online:
Being a part of the conversation of what happens to the Salton Sea is worth another $25,000 to the Imperial Irrigation District board. The board voted 3-2 Tuesday to give additional money to the Salton Sea Authority, an agency some say is failing.
Directors Mike Abatti and John Pierre Menvielle voted against the money that is adding to the $75,000 already given to the SSA this year by IID. “I don’t think it’s responsible to continue funding something without a position (on the sea),” Abatti said.
The IID board has not taken a position on the restoration plans for the Salton Sea and is awaiting the environmental impact report.
But a majority of the board including Director James Hanks, who voted to give more money to the SSA, said the IID needs to take a stand. “There are huge questions about air mitigation and who’s responsible for that,” Hanks said. “It’s time to give clear direction to this board. If we don’t have a voice on the Salton Sea Authority, what voice would we have?”
Read the full text of this story from the Imperial Valley Press Online by clicking here.
From KXO Radio, news that the IID has been credited with 4000 acre-feet of water against the 17,000 acre-feet that the IID overused last year:
King told the IID Board of Directors Tuesday he had requested the Bureau Of Reclamation allow the IID to be credited with the unused apportionment of Metropolitan Water District and Nevada 2005 entitlement. He said since the IID was the only District to request the unused apportionments, the Bureau agreed, but said they had to split the Nevada apportionment with the state of Arizona. King said that means the IID was given 4,000 acre-feet of water to be used in the payback of last years over-run.
That means only 13,000 acre-feet to go. Full text from KXO by clicking here.
I wonder what the “unused apportionment of Metropolitan Water District” water is. With MWD buying ag water and saying that even with conservation, they will be reaching into their reserves this year, how can there be any “unused apportionment”?
Representation for Coachella Valley residents & IID at issue with Garcia bill
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 17, 2008 at 6:29 amFrom MyDesert.com:
Imperial Irrigation District officials vowed to do all they can to defeat a proposed state law that would open governance of its energy operations to include Coachella Valley representation. But IID officials also said they must do more to address the concerns and represent the interests of Coachella Valley residents, who comprise two-thirds of the public agency’s approximately 140,000 customers. Though the bulk of IID’s energy customers are in the Coachella Valley, the district’s boundaries are entirely within Imperial County. Only Imperial residents can become IID directors or vote for directors.
“I think there’s consensus we haven’t done as good of a job as we could have and should have in the Coachella Valley,” IID spokesman Kevin Kelley said, referring to customer representation.
Bonnie Garcia’s bill would split the power off from the utility if enough residents voted for it. Coachella Valley residents have not been without representation, though:
Coachella Valley residents have their say on IID energy policy through its Energy Consumers Advisory Committee, which includes citizens appointed from both the Imperial and Coachella valleys.
The committee, like the district board of directors, this week voted to oppose Garcia’s bill. “I am a great supporter of direct representation,” committee member and La Quinta resident John Corella said, “but IID is still providing cheap power. If we inadvertently raise our rates for having this representation, that should go to consumers to see if they support it.”
Sun City Palm Desert resident Earl Hazan served on the advisory committee for about seven months, until he was removed by IID’s board earlier this year. “Personally I felt for a long time that the committee was just window dressing to take care of the people who had no vote, who live outside of Imperial County,” he said.
Read the full text of this article from MyDesert.com by clicking here.
Opposition mounts against Garcia’s bill, headed toward preliminary hearings at the end of the month
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 16, 2008 at 5:53 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press Online:
Opposition continues to mount against Assembly Bill 2564 as it nears the preliminary hearing date at the end of this month. The Modesto Irrigation District and the Association of California Water Agencies have both opposed the proposed legislation authored by Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City.
Garcia has cited a lack of representation on the Imperial Irrigation District board for Coachella Valley energy consumers as one of the primary reasons for the legislation. Coachella customers account for 60 percent of IID’s energy ratepayers. Once that percentage reaches 75, Coachella residents would be allowed to vote on whether a new utility to serve their area should be created. Garcia estimates IID is 10 years away from such a vote.
But without a sponsor on the bill, some have questioned where the support for AB2564 is coming from. “If all of IID’s customers in Riverside County were jumping up and down screaming that we take a position, we would,” said Riverside County Board of Supervisors Chairman Roy Wilson. “We haven’t had an overwhelming ground swell of public opinion to tell us to do that.”
In a related story, Imperial County Board of Supervisors are being urged to oppose the bill:
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors has been urged by county staff to oppose Assembly Bill 2564.>
A letter has been drafted by Bob Ham, Imperial County director of intergovernmental relations, and action could be taken April 22. “I think we’re going to need to oppose the bill,” Ham said during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “It’s a bad bill. And the bill needs to be killed.”
The item will be on the agenda for the next supervisor’s meeting. Click here to read the full text of the first article, and click here to read the second article, both from the Imperial Valley Press Online.
Garcia and IID open lines of communication about proposed legislation
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 12, 2008 at 6:29 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press Online:
Faced with potential legislative action that could break off Coachella Valley interests from the rest of the district, Imperial Irrigation District officials said they are opening the lines of communication.
District officials met with Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, in Sacramento this week to discuss AB 2564. The proposed legislation would have Coachella voters decide whether they want their own utility district or continue service with IID in the future.“We explained how important it was to keep IID water and power together,” IID board President John Pierre Menvielle said. “Water costs could go up, energy costs could go up and it would hurt the ratepayers.”
Menvielle and Director Stella Mendoza attended the meeting with Garcia. Mendoza did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Some 60 percent of the energy customers are in the Coachella area. According to the proposed legislation, when that number reaches 75 percent, it would be up to voters to decide what to do. Garcia has maintained Coachella needs representation at IID.
The bill is not sponsored, and the bill is reportedly opposed by the Modesto Irrigation District and the ACWA. More on this story from the Imperial Valley Press Online by clicking here.
Coachella Valley’s IID energy customers might get a say on the IID board; IID is bitterly opposed to the idea
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 8, 2008 at 7:07 amFrom MyDesert.com:
Imperial Irrigation District customers in the Coachella Valley could have a greater say over the public agency’s rates and other policies under a bill by state Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia. But IID officials bitterly oppose the bill, saying it is a potential threat to the viability of their agency and the significant Colorado River water rights it holds in trust for Imperial Valley farmers and residents.
Nearly two-thirds of IID’s approximately 140,000 energy customers are in the Coachella Valley, from Washington Street eastward. If those customers have concerns over a rate hike or fee change, their options are writing a letter, making a call or attending a board meeting to voice concerns. What they can’t do is vote on IID’s board of directors because its district boundaries are entirely in Imperial County. “The way we’re growing in this area, I would think our input should be of some value,” said Indio resident and IID rate-payer Esther Mulherin.
Garcia, R-Cathedral City, cited numerous concerns at IID. “Yet the very people that pay their bills, the base of their business, have no say in what’s going on,” she said.
Garcia’s bill would require any irrigation district with more than 50,000 energy service connections, 75 percent of which are outside the district’s boundaries, to place on the ballot of the next general election a proposal for voters to consider reorganizing to form a separate utility district for providing electrical service. The votes would then be counted from customers within irrigation boundaries and energy customers outside the boundaries. If a majority of both in-district and out-of-district voters support reorganization, a new utility district would be created to provide electricity in the entire area.