PDA

View Full Version : Colorado River Water Agreement....



Darian
12-27-2009, 02:29 PM
Over on Blanton's BB, Tracy Chimenti mentioned that the validity of the Quantification Settlement Agreement that was signed in 2003 is now being challenged in court. The challenge is based on the constitutionality/legality of the agreement and whether proper environmental studies were done on impacts the Salton Sea and surrounding environments. The plaintiffs include, Imperial Irrigation District, Imperial County Government and Imperial Valley farmers/growers. :-|

This challenge is significant in that the agreement attempts to address California's long overuse of Colorado River water, initiate water sales/transfers between Imperial Irrigation District and SoCal municipal water districts and provide $/water to restore the Salton Sea. If the litigation is successful, this state will probably have to resume excessive diversions from the Colorado River water and the CVP (Delta water).... :confused:

Check out the following link:

http://people.ucsc.edu/~gbaird/WaterDossier.pdf

An interesting note in the paper is that the population affected in SoCal is 28 million people. There's only enough natural water supply for 500,000.... :eek:

OceanSunfish
12-28-2009, 11:47 PM
Thanks for keeping us all current.

It is so tiring to hear and read of all the "special interests" groups ploys. Everything is "special interests" groups.

Tracy Chimenti
12-30-2009, 12:58 PM
I still say... run that water back from the ocean. it's coming to our front door, more than we can handle! Nucelar-powered desalination.

My 2... where the hell is the "cents" sign...?

Darian
12-30-2009, 10:53 PM
Tracy,.... Todays SF Chron had an article in it mentioning that a French company had signed a letter of intent to partner with a water agency to explore building a nuclear power generating plant in the San Joaquin.... Still requires a change in state law before any construction can begin.... :) :)

From Blanton's BB, courtesy of Mike McKenzie, here's another link to some history/current perspective about all of this from an attorney involved in environmental issues:

http://www.ggu.edu/lawlibrary/environmental_law_journal/eljvol3/attachment/Carter.pdf

A bit lengthy but very good....

Darian
01-15-2010, 03:58 PM
In todays SacBee, it was reported that the Quantification Settlement Agreement was invalidated by a Federal Court Judge in Sacramento. However, the judge left the agreement/water flows intact for a period of 30 days after entry of judgment. It's fairly certain that an appeal will be filed. :|

If the appeal is unsuccessful, the impact of this decision could be a demand for increased water from the elsewhere in this state (can you say Delta :?: ) and a resumption of pressure for the Guv's water plans. :(

The plaintiffs included a California water agency and some growers from the Imperial Valley. These plaintiffs were, also, part of the QS agreement. :-\" I don't have all the details but, ostensibly, they objected to the $$ set aside as part of the agreement to restore the Salton Sea. Does it seem that this a bit like shooting ones self in the foot :?: :?: :confused:

Larry S
01-15-2010, 06:07 PM
Down here in San Diego, we have a Conn. firm -Poseidon- that's been trying to build
a seawater - drinking water plant in south Carlsbad. It would be near the Encino
power plant - the big smoke stack tower near I-5. Looking at 50 million gallons per day
to service 112,000 households per day. They keep jumping thru hoops and have the OK
from the Coastal Commission, yet groups keep erecting roadblocks. We need several
of these down here. New technology makes these plants much more environmentally
friendly.
Larry S

Darian
01-15-2010, 11:07 PM
I've read about the Poseidon project. Also, read about the problems. The last word was that the permit was denied.... :confused: Hoping that's not true. San Diego does need DeSal as does the whole SoCal metropolitan area. Of course, this breach of the agreement could mean that California will resume exceeding it's legal allocation from the Colorado and make all the surrounding states ticked off.... Pretty soon we won't be able to cross the state line to go fishing.... :)

Tracy Chimenti
01-16-2010, 01:15 AM
...maybe some day, thousands of years from now, they will read about this in a familiar black book.