Wochit With a Monday deadline looming, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has offered to break an impasse on a seven-state Colorado River drought contingency package by contributing necessary water from its own reserves on behalf of the Imperial Irrigation District.
We would make both IID’s and Metropolitan’s water contributions," Kightlinger said.
But Reclamation Commissioner Burman told all parties last month that if they didn’t finalize the drought plans by March 4, she would act, including possibly imposing mandatory cuts in water supplies in coming years.
IID Vice President James Hanks, who has been an outspoken critic of the federal deadline, went further, saying in an email, "The IID board, in the form of an official action at a public held meeting, has stated its position.
The IID staff has continued to make progress on the Drought Contingency Plan as directed.
Metropolitan would be at greater risk of having rationing imposed on its urban supplies than its rural neighbor to the south, because its place in line for water from the river supplies comes after IID’s.
IID has poured significant resources into its effort to get Salton Sea funding.
In 2016, he said it was Metropolitan who threatened to hold up the drought contingency plan until they received assurances that federal and state officials would throw their backing behind the agency’s efforts to guarantee funding and water supply from an unrelated California Delta water project proposal.
The drought contingency plans, if completed, would keep about 2.1 million acre feet of water in the Colorado River system.
He thinks the Farm Bill, the same source from which IID is seeking funds for the Salton Sea, could be an option.

Despite a last-minute frenzy of deal-making, the federal government announced that it will begin taking “protective actions” on the Colorado River, where a long-running drought has put the water supply for 40 million people at risk.
While most states had agreed, California and Arizona couldn’t finalize the agreement in time.
“We are close,” said U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman.
Interior holds “broad authority,” according to Commissioner Burman, to make decisions on the lower Colorado River.
Arizona and Nevada’s water supplies would be cut back then, but California’s would not, because it holds the oldest water rights on the river.
Under the states’ still unratified drought deal, California and other states would begin reducing their water use before currently required, in order to preserve water levels in Lake Mead.
The Colorado River supplies millions of people in Southern California, mostly through the Metropolitan Water District, as well as several major farming districts.
But some farming communities saw little reason to sign on, since they have the most secure water rights to the river.
As the deadline passed, two parties, Arizona and California’s Imperial Irrigation District, had yet to agree to the plan.
In a statement, Imperial Irrigation District General Manager Henry Martinez said the district "will continue to work diligently to reach agreement" and it "expects the work on the DCP (drought contingency plan) to be completed promptly."

Arizona’s plan has broad support but it hasn’t been approved by the Legislature, a factor that has made the negotiations on the drought contingency plan more complex.
No other state required lawmakers to sign off.
“The delay increases the risk for us all.” The deadline requires only that the states sign off on the drought plan.
Arizona lawmakers want to see exactly how the plan will affect their constituents before they cast a vote, and tweaks to a handful of bills expected to be introduced will create more uncertainty.
His budget includes $30 million to protect the levels in Lake Mead and $5 million for groundwater infrastructure.
If Arizona’s plan collapses and the federal government steps in, those states could put in motion at least some of their own plan to meet their obligation to the lower basin states, water managers there said.
The Interior Department, the parent agency of the Bureau of Reclamation, is the water master of the river that serves 40 million people.
“The less time you give us, the more complicated this is going to get.” Arizona must find a way to reduce its use of Colorado River water by up to 700,000 acre-feet — more than twice Nevada’s yearly allocation under the drought plan.
The Metropolitan Water District, another major water user of Colorado River water in California, is pumping more water through its aqueducts to ensure the 500,000 acre-feet of water it has stored behind Lake Mead won’t be stranded if the reservoir levels fall drastically and Arizona isn’t on board with the drought plan, said the district’s general manager, Jeff Kightlinger.
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PHOENIX — House Democrats are balking at ratifying a proposed drought contingency plan over what they see as a key missing element.
Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez said Thursday many of her members question why there’s nothing in the proposal to require more water conservation.
Instead, it is more focused on finding ways to move water around, particularly to meet the needs of Pinal County farmers.
“But I do think it’s doable.
Conservation is something that’s important.” She also pointed out that the package lawmakers are being asked to approve involves more than changing state water laws.
There’s also money involved, with the state coming up with cash both to buy water from the Colorado River Indian Tribes as well as to help Pinal County farmers drill new wells to replace some river water they’ll lose.
“If we’re going to put money into this, and we’re talking about millions … and we could be on the hook for more, we need to get exactly what we want,” Fernandez said.
The last time Arizona and other states made projections was in 2007.
Using data for the past 100 years they figured the chance of Lake Mead hitting critical shortage by 2026 was less than 10 percent.
But here’s the thing: Once you look at more recent data only — specifically the last 30 years when the Southwest has been in an historic drought — continuing to withdraw water at this rate increases the chance of the lake falling to critical levels to more than 40 percent.

to Arizona and California: ‘We are quickly running out of time.’
Arizona and California have blown this week’s federal deadline to approve their strategies, jeopardizing progress for Colorado and the four others.
Water bosses from Arizona and California said publicly at a water conference here Wednesday that they’re close to striking deals, but privately admitted that negotiations have been stalling.
And Lake Powell serves the same purpose for the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah, which must deliver a certain amount of water to the Lower Basin each year under the terms of a 1922 interstate compact known as the Law of the River.
The deal they reached in November sets up a “demand management” program that, among other things, is designed to prod farmers and ranchers – who consume nearly 90 percent of the state’s river water – to cut their use in exchange for money at times of shortage.
The pickle The plan can’t be implemented without the three Lower Basin states having first approved their own statewide water shortage approaches and also signed off on a collective Lower Basin strategy.
Ted Cooke, CAP’s general manager, said negotiations are taking so long “not because we’re slow, but because it’s difficult.” Under Burman’s deadline, Arizona not only needs to strike a deal with Pinal County farmers, but also persuade its legislature to approve the shortage plan by the end of January.
Although the Interior Department traditionally has let states set their own policies, it could after January swoop in and dictate which water users in Arizona and California would take the hit in case of a water shortage.
Burman told reporters Thursday that the “incredible history of (states) coming together” on Colorado River policy makes her confident there will be unity moving forward.
Though nobody questions Burman’s own commitment to easing the effects of climate change on already parched western water users, they wonder if she would have the support she’d need to impose cutbacks, if necessary, on states or water agencies unwilling to make the tough choices managing their shares of river water.

Arizona water officials came to an agreement on a plan that deals with water shortages as the Colorado River water supply continues to decline.
The Drought Contingency Plan had already been signed off on by Nevada and California, but had stalled in Arizona as officials struggled to deal with how to take the most cutbacks should Lake Mead hit shortage levels.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has said a shortage is all but inevitable and could hit as soon as next year.
Arizona’s plan lays out $100 million – including $30 million in state tax revenue – that would pay to have water previously stored underground pumped out to meet some of the needs of farmers and others who would otherwise find themselves going without.
It also involves paying some cash to tribes and others to buy water rights.
The Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources says the plan primarily deals with finding ways to leave more water in Lake Mead.
The plan still requires approval by lawmakers.

The city of Napa will take the lead among local governments in funding a new plan to help the county cope with California’s next drought emergency.
Napa would assume $138,966 of the $230,193 to be provided by Napa County’s five cities, plus the county and the Napa Sanitation District, toward a drought contingency plan.
The City Council on Tuesday accepted its share of the $430,193 budget, which includes a $200,000 federal grant from the Bureau of Reclamation Napa officials expect to see approved by month’s end.
Each government’s payment toward the drought plan will be based on its population and water use, with the city of Napa paying about 60 percent of the local share, according to a city memorandum.
American Canyon would provide the second largest share at $31,652, followed by the county with $22,567, St. Helena with $15,120 and Napa Sanitation with $10,132.
Calistoga would commit $8,502 and Yountville $3,254.
A contingency plan reviews the water supply and consumption in each city and agency, and recommends potential projects to make up supply deficits during a drought.
The most recent plan stemmed from a 2005 study by Napa Valley governments, and led to the city of Napa improving its Barwick Jamieson Treatment plant and buying more rights to state-supplied water from Yountville and St. Helena.
Brown and Caldwell, a Walnut Creek design and engineering firm, will partner with local governments to create the drought plan.
The company originally contracted with Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties last year on a water shortage strategy for all three counties, but Marin and Sonoma ultimately pursued their own plan, Brun said in a pre-meeting memorandum.

Earlier this month, after years of fitful effort, state agencies and water providers agreed on a Drought Contingency Plan to deal with the very real possibility of shortages in the water supply provided by the river.
On the positive side, the tentative agreement creates a framework to save more water in Lake Mead in coming years and to allocate the supply cutbacks that will accompany the nearly inevitable shortage.
According to the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency which oversees management of the river system, there’s a nearly 60 percent chance that a “Tier 1” shortage will be declared in the Lower Basin states (California, Arizona and Nevada) in 2020.
The goal of the Drought Contingency Plan is to prevent even deeper cutbacks in the future supply available to the Lower Basin.
A successfully implemented Drought Contingency Plan will reduce the risk of deeper shortages.
From the moment a Drought Contingency Plan is formally signed, central Arizona will have to live without 192,000 acre feet of water per year.
It’s also likely that the federal government will declare a “Tier 1” shortage in 2020, forcing a cutback of 512,000 acre feet of water per year, or nearly 30 percent of Arizona’s annual Central Arizona Project supply.
But the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan only gets us so far.
This month’s agreements will help get river communities through the near-term shortages that seem inevitable, and they are an important first step toward more lasting solutions.
Protecting the river and the water it provides will require us to develop resilient solutions that reduce water consumption and efficiently share the river’s waters.

Prolonged drought stalks Arizona The dark side of low-water levels could mean cutbacks to Arizona, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Arizona water experts said mainly farms and rural areas, rather than cities, could be restricted.
If Lake Mead’s water level falls below 1,050 feet, Arizona would lose an additional 80,000 acre-feet of water, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
But bigger cities are already considering policies that would reduce their water use and float their water allotments over to Pinal County.
Although California receives the largest allotment from Lake Mead, agreements forged years ago give it priority.
California, the most populous state in the country, has some disadvantages compared to Arizona when it comes to storing water, Porter said.
“So they have a need for it that is more immediate.” Arizona has not needed its entire allocation of water from Lake Mead, Porter said, so CAP and the Arizona Water Banking Authority have used the excess to recharge aquifers.
Beaches, boat ramps updated as Mead drops The recreational opportunities brought on by drought at Lake Mead National Recreation Area also come at a cost – $2 million in updates for every 10-foot drop in the water level.
“With every change, there’s a new fun thing to do here,” said Christie Vanover, public affairs officer for the recreation area.
But considering the Bureau of Reclamation’s prediction, they are likely to stay above water, at least for the next few years.

The Colorado River system’s ongoing 19-year drought could trigger unprecedented water rationing among its southern states by mid-2020, a new study warns.
The elevation of the most critical reservoir in the area—Lake Mead—could drop by 20 feet or more by mid-2020.
She said she expects the states to complete a “comprehensive, basinwide drought contingency plan before the end of this year.” According to the bureau, the lower basin of the river will have enough water to operate in normal conditions through calendar year 2019, but the possibility of water-use restrictions for the following year may be announced by next August.
Other studies have also raised the prospect of future problems with the river’s water supplies.
But another study, released by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), predicted that El Niño and its opposite weather feature—La Niña, which brings warmer, drier temperatures—will present mixed blessings in the future.
John Fasullo, an NCAR scientist who headed the study, called it a “weather whiplash” that could occur “particularly in the western U.S.” Ming Cai, a program officer at the National Science Foundation, which funded the NCAR study, said that by the end of the century, the added impacts of La Niña cycles on top of the growing temperature increases will leave California and other parts of the West “more vulnerable to severe droughts and widespread wildfires in the future.” According to computer projections, the combination means a La Niña event such as the one that occurred in 2011 could increase the chances of seasonal heat extremes in the southern half of the United States by as much as 30 percent.
Fasullo noted, however, that the study by itself does not predict whether the El Niño or La Niña cycles will continue in the future or, if they do, how big they might be.
“But we can say that an El Niño that forms in the future,” he said, “is likely to have more influence over our weather than if the same El Niño formed today.” Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from E&E News.
E&E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news at www.eenews.net.
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