IID to meet with farm groups over conservation plan

IMPERIAL — When the Imperial Irrigation District board approved a revised on-farm efficiency water conservation program of 2019 last week, members of the farming community mentioned it may not be worth their while to participate.

Farmers had been accustomed to earning $285 per acre foot for their water conservation efforts, but now only those already under contract (accounting for about 25,000 acre feet) will be reimbursed at that rate.

The rest will earn $125 an acre foot for the expected 185,000 acre feet of uncontracted water conserved.

Larry Cox, whose company farms 3,300 acres in Imperial Valley, said if the plan remains the same, IID would likely see farmers conserving less water or not conserving at all because it would not be cheaper to conserve water.

“We will not be able to conserve as much water because of the budget,” Cox said.

Cox, whose father once served on the IID board, said a concern to farmers is the IID plan would pay only $125 per acre foot of water that has already been conserved rather than that from the date when the plan was approved.

“They need to honor the $285,” Cox said. “If you want to do it going forward, I understand.”

He believes farmers are being penalized because they conserved more water than what was budgeted.

“The numbers got so high they couldn’t store it,” he said. “They (the IID) should not be allowed over-compensation. Going from $285 to $125 is a bit drastic.”

He said farmers will have to take a serious look at the plan to determine what if any water they could conserve, though some farms already have systems in place to conserve water.

IID Board Director Bruce Kuhn said the effects on IID would depend on how many farmers decided not to conserve water anymore.

Kuhn said the IID has to get enough water from on-farm conservation to take care of the San Diego Water Authority, Coachella and Lake Mead.

An IID spokesman said that would not be a problem. “If the price fails to generate the approximate 58,000 acre-feet of unfilled conservation, the IID has sufficient water in storage to offset the shortfall,” IID Communication Specialist Robert Schettler wrote in an email “The IID board made a fiscally responsible decision to not pay for over-conservation that would flow to (another water authority).”

The IID will meet Monday with three groups, including Farm Bureau, to look at their numbers in comparison to the numbers from the district.

“We will take our people and three to four of them to (negotiate),” Kuhn said. “Let’s do it in negotiations rather than cry about it.”

He added that he, as a single IID board director, cannot change a board action, so as its stands farmers will receive $125 per acre foot for water that is not contracted.

Kuhn and Director Jim Hanks will be in the Monday meeting, and they will decide if the plan needs to come back to the whole board.

Farm Bureau Executive Director Brea Mohamed could not be reached for comment.