Equitable distribution plan repealed
EL CENTRO — Four years after its conception, the equitable distribution plan has officially been repealed by the Imperial Irrigation District as a result of a court mandate.
The board approved the repeal with a 4-0 vote, with Director Bruce Kuhn abstaining.
The EDP, which was approved in 2013, set a cap on the amount of water local growers could use. Though the plan has been repealed, the IID appeal case remains pending.
Local farmer Michael Abatti led the challenge to the IID’s EDP four years ago, only one month after the plan was approved by the IID board.
The repeal of the EDP follows a writ of mandate made by Imperial County Superior Court judge L. Brooks Anderholt, who issued the ruling of the case in August. The IID submitted an appeal a month after the decision was made in hopes to keep the plan in place until the matter got resolved in the appellate court.
Last week, the court denied the IID’s request for a stay of the program, forcing its hand to repeal it.
“At this point in time staff doesn’t have a replacement apportionment program to present to your board. It will be complicated to come up with such a program,” said General Manager Kevin Kelley. “We have solicited the input of water users in the formulation of such a plan but the absence of the EDP means we lack an important tool that has served us since 2013 and (will) certainly reverberate throughout the (lower Colorado River) basin and among all Colorado River users.”
The intent of the EDP was to implement a system to cap the quantity of water farmers within the IID’s service area could use per acre of land. The IID board of directors approved the plan in October 2013, which was reviewed by a group of local farmers in the water conservation advisory board.
“I realize it’s going to be a challenge coming up with a new EDP,” said Imperial Valley H20 president Craig Elmore. “IVH2O is more than willing and thankful for the chance of coming up with a new plan that would be beneficial to all.”
Division 1 Director Juanita Salas asked the legal team about the timeline of the appeal. IID’s assistant counsel Joanna Smith Hoff said the agency’s deadline to submit briefs to the appellate court is May 2. She noted a briefing could take place in the fall, while a hearing could take about a year.
After hearing about the timeline of the appeal, Salas suggested the board move forward in withdrawing the appeal as all the farm groups had asked the board to do.
Legal counsel Frank Oswalt told Salas that because the agenda discussion only pertained to the repeal of the EDP, the withdrawal of the appeal could not be voted on at the time.
The withdrawal could be placed on the agenda for a future board meeting.
IID spokeswoman Marion Champion told the Imperial Valley Press last week that in the absence of the program, “All water users will continue to be subject to the requirement of reasonable and beneficial use standards.”
“In addition, the district will continue to be subject to the 3.1 million acre-feet annual consumptive use cap set forth under the Quantification Settlement Agreement and the rules of the federal Inadvertent Overrun and Payback Policy,” said Champion.