Farmers concerned about potential water cuts
EL CENTRO — Imperial Valley farmers may need to drastically change plans to grow crops this autumn if an Imperial Irrigation District (IID) plan to retroactively curtail water usage back to January goes forward.
The board voted unanimously during its regular meeting Tuesday to adopt resolution 27-2022. The measure accelerates efforts to modify and implement an Equitable Distribution Plan (EDP), which manages water allocation to area farmers..
The Imperial Irrigation District has been considering the best course of action to mitigate a projected overuse of water derived from the Colorado River through the end of 2022.
According to the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), IID is projected to exceed its annual allotment of water by 82,334 acre feet by Dec. 31. To date, IID has exceeded projected water usage by about 3 percent, according to IID officials.
One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, according to water education. org, or enough water to cover an acre of land, about the size of one football field, 1 foot deep. An average California household uses between one half and one acre-foot of water per year for indoor and outdoor use.
The last EDP was updated in December 2007, with partial implementation in 2009 and full implementation in May 2013. It was revised in October 2013, and repealed in February 2018, according to IID.
Before the resolution was passed, a statement from the Imperial County Farm Bureau (ICFB) was read. The statement iterated the importance of protecting all Imperial Valley Water users, and noted on-farm water conservation will be crucial to address the ongoing drought conditions.
However, retroactively changing the amount of water farmers receive this year back to January could impact what crops may be planted, and cause the loss of jobs this autumn, according to the statement.
As such, ICFB recommends changes to the water allotment be for the 2022 calendar year only, and to use water stored in metropolitan water tanks to backfill the water already consumed so far.
“This will allow farmers to use water beneficially to grow their crops as planned,” the statement read.
Several public speakers also voiced their opposition to a retroactive water plan.
“I imagine all these things will be discussed in the next few days,” IID President James Hanks said before the vote.
Henry Martinez, IID general manager, said hard choices need to be made as soon as possible.
“This is our only source of water,” and critical shortages would not only impact farmers, but all Imperial Valley residents.
Asked about a potential motive, Vela said Beltran reportedly told police after his arrest he had been sexually assaulted in prison and believed Saldana had something to do with that. He called that allegation “unfounded” and the case against Beltran “straightforward” murder.