Water, Salton Sea projects discussed at forum
EL CENTRO — With all the attention the recently adopted water management agreement at the Colorado River and the progress made at the Salton Sea, the Colorado River Citizens Forum provided a presentation on both Wednesday evening.
As the state is slowly making progress to take up a bigger role in the mitigation efforts at the Salton Sea, Imperial Irrigation District’s Senior Environmental Project Manager Jessica Lovecchio spoke about the different dust control measures the agency is carrying out around the Salton Sea through its Air Quality Mitigation Program.
She gave the audience a brief history of the challenges surrounding the decline of the Salton Sea and how the increasing salinity and exposed playa can affect the migrating bird population and human health. The primary focus of her presentation was on the various projects being carried out, at or near the Salton Sea, which include surface roughening and vegetation planted in different areas - measures being used to control the amount of dust emitted into the air.
Vegetation enhancement is the preferred method of dust control for highly emissive areas — the areas identified as the most emissive are Red Hill Bay, near the New River and to the west of the sea. However, it is not clear whether the playa itself is causing those emissions or if the adjacent desert is causing it.
“Having an open desert to your west of the Salton Sea creates a lot of dust that then gets blown to the Salton Sea playa that can then kick up, even more, dust as it continues to blow,” Lovecchio said.
At the end of this year, the IID will stop sending mitigation water to the Salton Sea due to obligations under the water transfer. The IID has identified locations to carry additional vegetation enhancement projects at Red Hill Bay, Salton City, Bombay Beach and Coachella, to cover approximately 2,000 acres of exposed playa by the end of 2018.
Simultaneously, the state of California in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are currently building shallow habitat projects at Red Hill Bay which is expected to cover nearly an additional 600 acres.
“What is really nice about this project is that in this area, we’ve been working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do a habitat project,” Lovecchio said. “It’s a great area to prove that not only can you have air quality and habitat but also renewable energy right next to each other.”
Minute 323
The other topic covered in the forum was the recently enacted Minute 323, a 9-year agreement amended into the 1944 Mexican Water Treaty which specifies reductions to be taken in water deliveries during a shortage.
Secretary for the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission Sally Spener gave a presentation explaining the details of the new agreement which went into effect on Sept. 27.
Under the new agreement, U.S. water agencies will pay Mexico to complete water conservation projects in exchange for stored water at Lake Mead.
Another crucial aspect of Minute 323, is the investment from the U.S. water agencies and the federal government to upgrade the water infrastructure in Mexico which includes canal lining, automation, and maintenance in order to generate additional water conservation.
In total, the program will invest $31.5 million for water conservation infrastructure projects. Out of that amount, the federal government will fund $16.5 million while four water agencies — Metropolitan Water District, Southern Nevada Water Authority, Central Arizona Water Conservation District and the IID - will contribute an additional $3.75 million each.
Those conservation projects are expected to save approximately 230,000 acre-feet of water, part of which will be used for the Colorado River system and the U.S. water agencies themselves. The IID is expected to get more than 27,200 acrefeet of water total as part of this provision.
Minute 323 will also include a Binational Water Scarcity Contingency Plan, in which Mexico would commit to taking less water out of Lake Mead during shortages to avoid the reservoir elevation from dropping to critical levels and potentially recover those losses when hydrology improves. The agreement is expected to be approved later this month and expected to run into 2026.
Most of the questions directed at Spener involved the history of the agreement and technical details, however, Willie White a councilman for the Quechan Indian Tribe, on one hand, lauded the binational efforts to better managed the Colorado River but also expressed his and his tribe’s disappointment with the USIBWC which failed to consult with the multiple tribes that are part of the Colorado River Basin. Staff Writer Edwin Delgado can be reached at edelgado@ivpressonline. com