Quantification Settlement Agreement for the Colorado River

Quantification Settlement Agreement For the Colorado River

Overview Statewide Benefits The 2003 Quantification Settlement 1. Reduces Califor- AF = acre-foot Agreement enabled California to implement nia’s overdepen- One acre-foot is major Colorado River water conservation and dence on Colorado approximately transfer programs, stabilizing water supplies River — The QSA 325,900 gallons, for up to 75 years and reducing the state’s enough to supply enabled California demand on the river to its 4.4 million acre- 2.5 single-family to reduce its historic DIVERSIFICATION foot entitlement. It also provided a restoration households of four overdependence on Enhancing Water path forward for the environmentally sensitive for a year. Supply Reliability the Colorado River Salton Sea. through voluntary The Parties agriculture-to-urban water transfers and The completion of the QSA required the other water supply programs. The state commitment and combined efforts of these can now live within its 4.4 million acre-foot organizations: entitlement. • San Diego County Water Authority 2. Salton Sea Restoration — In March 2017 • Coachella Valley Water District the State of California produced its Salton • Imperial Irrigation District Sea Management Program, which provides • Metropolitan Water District of Southern a path toward a smaller, but more sustain- California able, Salton Sea. In November 2017, the • State of California State Water Board adopted a stipulated order, acknowledging additional agree- • U.S. Department of the Interior ments and commitments reached among QSA Water Supply 2003 - 2021 key stakeholders related to the manage- ment program. There is currently $280 mil- lion available and efforts are underway to 300,000 secure additional funding for the program. 3. Water supply — The QSA provides more 250,000 than 30 million acre-feet over the life of the transfer programs. 200,000 Major Features

eet The QSA: 150,000 re-f • Quantifies IID’s Colorado River entitle- Ac ment at 3.1 million acre-feet per year 100,000 • Quantifies CVWD’s Colorado River entitlement at 330,000 acre-feet per 50,000 year • Settles disputes among the four agencies 0 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 and seven states that share the Colorado

Imperial Irrigation All-American Canal Coachella Canal River District Transfer Lining Project Lining Project • Provides for large-scale water transfers:

The San Diego County Water Authority sustains a $245 billion regional economy and the quality of life for 3.3 million residents through a multi-decade water supply diversification plan, major infrastructure investments and forward-thinking policies that February 2020 promote fiscal and environmental responsibility. A public agency created in 1944, the Water Authority delivers wholesale water supplies to 24 retail water providers, including cities, special districts and a military base. Quantification Settlement AgreementRestoring California’s Water Supply Reliability

— IID-SDCWA transfer: Ramps up to 200,000 acre-feet per year in 2021 Total water made available to the from IID to the Water Authority for up to Water Authority through the QSA Projects 75 years 45 years: 9.9 million acre-feet — IID-MWD transfer: 105,000 acre-feet 75 years: 18.3 million acre-feet per year from IID to MWD 110 years: up to 21.0 million acre-feet — IID-CVWD transfer: Ramps up to 103,000 acre-feet per year from IID to CVWD rights dispute with the federal government — Transfer of between 33,000 and and decades of litigation. 133,000 acre-feet annually from the The canal lining projects help the Palo Verde Irrigation District to MWD Water Authority diversify its water supply • Provides for concrete lining portions of and improve water supply reliability. In 2019, the All-American and Coachella canals, the canal lining transfer made up 17 percent which conserve and transfer approxi- of the Water Authority’s water supply. mately 80,000 acre-feet per year to the Litigation Water Authority, and 16,000 acre-feet per year to several San Diego County Shortly after the QSA was executed, Indian bands to resolve a decades-old several Imperial Valley parties filed litiga- water rights dispute. tion related to the QSA, including a lawsuit to determine the validity of the agreements. The All-American and Coachella Canal In December 2011, Cali- fornia’s Third District Court of Appeal reversed a lower court ruling that had invalidated the Water Authority-IID water transfer and a number of other pieces of the QSA. The appeals 4677 Overland Ave. court remanded several issues to San Diego, California the trial court, including ques- 92123-1233 tions about whether the QSA 858.522.6700 was properly processed under California Environmental Quality sdcwa.org Act, or CEQA.

Over the life of the QSA programs, millions of acre-feet of water transfer In July 2013, a Sacramento from primarily agricultural use to primarily urban use. Superior Court judge entered Lining Projects a final judgment validating the QSA and rejecting all of the remaining legal The Coachella Canal Lining Project was challenges. The judge affirmed all of the con- completed in 2007. It conserves 26,000 acre- tested actions, including the adequacy of the feet per year. The All-American Canal Lining environmental documents prepared by IID. Project was completed in 2010. It conserves In May 2015, the state Court of Appeal 67,700 acre-feet per year. Under the agree- Scan to connect to the ment, the Water Authority receives approxi- issued a ruling that dismissed all remaining Water Authority website mately 80,000 acre-feet of the conserved appeals. on your mobile phone water per year for 110 years. The rest of the conserved water from the projects belongs to several bands of Mission Indians in northern @sdcwa San Diego County – known as the San Luis Rey settlement parties – to settle a water

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