<<

THE QUANTIFICATION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT: MANAGING ’S USE OF WATER

Approximately one quarter of Southern California’s freshwater supply comes from the Colorado River for agricultural, urban and environmental purposes. Today, the river is under severe constraints due to an extended drought and population growth in six of the seven states that draw upon its water. These conditions make California’s plan to utilize and distribute its Colorado River water supply – according to the terms of the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) – even more critical today than it was when the QSA was signed almost two ago.

RIGHTS TO COLORADO RIVER WATER system of canals – would reduce the amount of runoff water that historically flowed to the . These reduced inflows cause the California water agencies hold some of the oldest and most sea to shrink, threatening natural habitat, exposing shoreline that was substantial water rights to the river. This group includes the Imperial previously underwater, and creating human health problems as the Irrigation District, which is the nation’s largest irrigation district with fine dust, which contains decades of farm field sediments, becomes Colorado River water rights dating back to the 19th Century. IID’s airborne “particulate matter” in the Imperial and Coachella valleys. current entitlement of 3.1 million acre-feet per year (AFY) is used to irrigate approximately 475,000 acres of farmland. Under the terms of the QSA and enabling legislation, the State of The first large-scale water transfers among Southern California California assumed responsibility to plan for and fund measures that agencies began in 1988, when IID agreed to provide 103,000 AFY of would address these impacts for a smaller sustainable Salton Sea. water to Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), STATUS OF THE QSA and later amended in 2014 to 105,000 AFY. Under the agreement, the quantity of water supplied to MWD must be equal to the The validity of the QSA has been challenged in courts since the amount that is conserved by IID in the form of reduced water use on agreement was executed. In 2013, the legitimacy of the agreement agricultural lands. was upheld by the Superior Court in Sacramento. The district cumulatively conserved more than 6.2 million acre-feet During the 1990s – as other states sought to secure more of their of water through the end of 2020. Under the fallowing program and Colorado River water entitlements – California water agencies by order of the State Water Resources Control Board, IID delivered faced significant pressure from the federal government to reduce water to the Sea through 2017 equal to the customary field runoff their water use by nearly one million acre-feet of water. to the Salton Sea as “mitigation water.” In 2013, the fallowing program TERMS OF THE QSA was slowly replaced by on-farm and system-wide efficiency measures. The end of the fallowing program in 2017, and thus end of mitigation The QSA and subsequent implementing legislation sought to water delivery, accelerated the process of a receding sea and lakebed achieve three things: exposure and exacerbating related health impacts. • affirm the rights of California water agencies to Colorado River water supplies to quantify California’s total allotment at Some funding has been provided for habitat conservation projects, 4.4 million AFY and funding was provided in 2013 to enable the Salton Sea Authority • enable water-sharing agreements among these agencies to conduct a feasibility study for restoration of the Salton Sea. • address the environmental consequences of these transfers In March 2017, the Natural Resources Agency released a draft Salton Sea Management Program, Phase I: 10-Year Plan. IID is working closely Under the agreement, IID agreed to transfer an additional 200,000 with the State and the State’s coordination with partner agencies to acre-feet of conserved water annually to the “thoroughly assess barriers to project implementation and create a Water Authority and approximately 100,000 acre-feet to Coachella roadmap for moving forward with the SSMP.” The State’s design-build Valley Water District, as well as an additional 67,700 acre-feet of process for the Species Conservation Habitat Project is an actionable water that would be conserved by lining the All-American Canal to step forward. The State selected a contractor for the SCH Project in prevent water loss through seepage. These agreements would be in August 2020 with projected completion in 2023 at an estimated cost place for up to 75 years. of $210 million. IID has worked diligently to assist the State, including At the time of the QSA, it was known that reducing water use on the issuance of an easement to the State for use of IID owned farms – which are irrigated through a gravity flow property that the SCH Project is located on.

Visit us online at www.saltonseanow.com or on Facebook at IID SALTON SEA RESTORATION AND RENEWABLE ENERGY INITIATIVE A century of service. JULY2021