Imperial Valley Officials’ Selection : Private Firm to Develop Water-Saving Plan

A major worldwide engineering firm was selected Tuesday by Imperial Valley water officials here to carry out conservation planning and construction that could result in substantial amounts of new water for coastal Southern California residents.

Directors of the Imperial Irrigation District voted unanimously to negotiate a contract with the Parsons Corp. of Pasadena for consulting work on $450 million in improvements to eliminate irrigation spillage and seepage in the valley’s vast agricultural fields. This is the first time a private corporation has been selected to develop a water savings plan for a public agency, Parsons officials said.

The announcement also adds impetus to negotiations between the irrigation district and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which purveys half the water for 13 million Southern Californians and needs the additional supplies to avoid shortages within the next decade.

Preliminary Studies

The MWD has counted on the conserved water from Imperial Valley in its plans for the next 20 years. Preliminary estimates from state-sponsored studies have shown that at least 250,000 acre-feet a year--about one sixth of MWD’s present supply--could be saved for coastal urban use. (An acre-foot is the amount of water used annually by an average family of five.)

Those negotiations continue today, with Imperial officials expected to ask MWD about advancing money for the Parsons studies. In return, MWD could receive a commitment from Imperial for an as-yet undetermined amount of conserved water.

The two agencies are also trying to hammer out a memorandum of understanding. MWD officials have agreed in principle to pay Imperial annually, over a 40-year period, the costs of modernizing irrigation systems to save water. The supplies would in return accrue to MWD for use in its six-county service area from Ventura to San Diego and east beyond Riverside.

A potential stumbling block is the insistence by MWD, which cites a complex series of federal laws governing use of Colorado River water, that it is entitled to any conserved water in the district. Imperial says that state law allows it to sell, or transfer, conserved water to any agency it chooses. Both MWD and Imperial receive supplies from the Colorado, with Imperial’s share allocated ahead of MWD’s.

However, both sides apparently want to negotiate an agreement, if possible, without the legal difference of opinion becoming an issue.

“We’re really not too far from reaching an agreement with MWD,” said Lloyd Allen, one of two Imperial board members involved in both the Parsons and MWD negotiations.

Precise Figures

The first phase of Parsons’ work would come up with precise cost and conservation figures, along with identifying all potential users--in addition to MWD--of any water saved.

“If Imperial feels more comfortable with a consultant such as Parsons advising them, that’s their decision,” Myron Holburt, assistant MWD general manager, said Tuesday. Holburt heads up the MWD negotiating team.

“But if Parsons makes a real solid investigation, it will find out that we are the only ones who can use the water, unless it wants its clients to get into a lawsuit that will cost a lot of money and a lot of time.

“But I’m hopeful we can work things out satisfactorily without reference to the legal disagreements,” Holburt said. “There are such tremendous advantages that accrue to both sides.”

The Imperial board decided the district needs a major consultant such as Parsons because of the complexity of modernizing its half-century-old water distribution system. Parsons was picked from among six firms that applied for the consulting position.