IID files legal brief in Abatti case appeal

SAN DIEGO — Attorneys for Imperial Irrigation District Friday filed another legal brief with California’s Fourth Appelate District Court in its continuing appeal of a negative verdict it received in 2017 in a suit over how it allocates water.

That suit, brought in November 2013 by local farmer Michael Abatti, challenged the district’s Equitable Distribution Plan, which set a cap on the amount a water that farmers could use per acre of land.

In August 2017, County Judge L. Brooks Anderholt ruled in favor of Abatti and directed the district to repeal the plan. The district filed for a stay of the judge’s ruling until the appellate court had time to review the case, but that motion was denied, forcing IID to repeal the EDP in February 2018.

Friday’s brief was the latest salvo in the district’s efforts to have Anderholt’s ruling overturned. In its combined reply and response brief, the district argued that it “legally acquired and owns the water rights to the Colorado River water that it diverts and delivers to the Imperial Valley,” and that those rights are held by IID “in trust for its uses and purposes” under irrigation district law.

IID said it was, therefore, “well within” its powers when it adopted the EDP to apportion water to all its water users.

“The outcome of this case will dictate the future of the Imperial Valley’s water rights and who controls them,” said IID Board President Erik Ortega in a release. “For the IID, this case is about many things but none more important than protecting and managing this resource for the benefit of all water users.”

The IID Board of Directors is expected to address the brief in open session during its meeting Tuesday.