Water Board urged to implement stipulated order
Ahead of next week’s workshop regarding the draft stipulated order for the Salton Sea, the State Water Resources Control Board has already begun to receive comments urging them to move forward with the plan as early as possible.
On Sept. 7, the water board will have a public workshop in which it will review the proposed plan formally called Draft Stipulated Order — which was negotiated between the Imperial Irrigation District, Imperial County, the San Diego County Water Authority, the California Natural Resources Agency and others.
The tentative order would be an amendment to the water order issued on Oct. 28, 2002, which approved the long-term transfer of water from the Imperial Irrigation District to San Diego County Water Authority, Coachella Valley Water District and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The overarching goal is for the state of California to commit to a series of annual milestones regarding the number of exposed acres covered under the Salton Sea Management Program and give the water board jurisdiction to hold the state accountable if the goals aren’t met.
Imperial County, IID, and SDCWA filed a joint letter to the board which states the order represents the consensus among different entities as the best path forward for the state.
“It is imperative that all parties — including but not limited to the state of California — work together to prevent a public health disaster for the people of the Imperial and Coachella valleys and to protect the wildlife and habitat of the Salton Sea,” the letter states.
The draft stipulated order set the same 29,800 acres of exposed lakebed to be covered by 2029, but it also sets yearly objectives starting with 500 acres by Jan. 1, 2019, and rises incrementally to 4,000 acres or more to be covered in the final three years.
In March, the CNRA unveiled its 10-year plan which intends to implement a variety of dust suppression and habitat projects to cover nearly 30,000 acres of exposed lakebed in the next 10 years. The total price tag for the full 10-year plan is $383 million and to date, only $80 million of that amount has been allocated.
The draft stipulated order also has a provision which if the implementation of the 10-year plan falls more than 20 percent behind the annual goal, then the CNRA would have to develop a plan to make up the deficiency. Another important commitment in the order includes a requirement for the state to develop a phase II plan at the Salton Sea that will outline the next 10 years of activities and projects to be undertaken, that plan should be finalized no later than by the end of 2022.
The draft stipulated order represents the consensus of the Agencies, the California Natural Resources Agency, and certain environmental groups as to the best course forward for the Salton Sea. As IID has been stating since it filed its petition in this matter on November 2014, now is the time for action.
“This has been a process of compromise between agencies toward an action that will serve to move the State’s Salton Sea Management Program forward while upholding the critical mitigation goals of the original water order that approved the QSA,” said SDCWA Assistant General Manager Dan Denham in a statement.
Thursday’s workshop will serve only as a hearing in which the water board will listen to the terms of the order but will not take action. The letter from the local agencies urges the board to schedule the item for its Sept. 19 meeting to approve the plan and set a feasible plan to save the ailing Salton Sea.
Although setting the goal to cover 30,000 is ambitious, according to previous projections from the IID, up to 60,000 additional acres are expected to be left exposed.
Kerri Morrison, the executive director of EcoMedia Compass, a community-based organization in Salton City focused on Salton Sea matters, said in his comment letter expressed concern that the work set to be done by this plan may not be enough to truly mitigate the negative impacts of the emissive dust blowing in the area.
“Judging simply by past projects, it is of major concern to our residents that these strategies will not be undertaken within enough time to manage and balance the health and wildlife of the region. And as far as economy and quality of life, we have already lost close to half of our businesses in the last 10 years,” Morrison wrote.
He said in his comments, the state should put forth a long term plan as soon as possible and seriously considered the seawater import proposal to fully restore the Salton Sea. Attached with his letter Morrison sent the water board a list of signatures of more of 200 residents and supporters of the concept.
“The people need a holistic vision to believe in. We all want and deserve to live next to a lake, not a mitigation experiment similar to what killed Owen’s lake,” Morrison wrote. “... Let us strive for a new water source for the region - ensuring stability for generations to come.”
The workshop will take place at the Cal EPA building in Sacramento at 11 a.m. Thursday, and can be watched live at www.video.calepa.gov