Imperial Valley Regains Water Taken by U.S.

A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Bush administration from taking water away from farmers in Imperial County, while permitting a cutback of supplies to the giant water agency that supplies most of Southern California with water from the Colorado River.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan blocked a decision by Interior Secretary Gale Norton that reduced Imperial County’s allocation from the river.

The decision came after a lengthy hearing Tuesday that saw an attorney for the Imperial Irrigation District’s board present memos that he said showed that the Bush administration conspired with the Metropolitan Water District to take the Imperial Valley’s water.

Norton cut the desert farm region’s water supply by 10% after the local water board rejected a deal that would have sent some of its irrigation water to San Diego County.

The preliminary injunction will restore Imperial County’s full allotment of river water, which is about 70% of the amount the state can draw from the Colorado this year. Other Southern California water agencies will have to make do with less.

The MWD will lose at least 66,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water this year, enough water for more than 132,000 homes in Southern California, said agency spokesman Adan Ortega, who added that the agency has sufficient supplies to make up the difference.

The Coachella Valley, a desert region near Palm Springs, stands to lose 140,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water this year, enough water for 280,000 households. An agency spokesman said it was too soon to say what the impact of the decision would be.

Imperial County farmers, politicians and the five members of the region’s water board attended the hearing and cheered the judge’s decision.

“I’m one happy farmer,” said John Pierre Menvielle, who grows grass, wheat and other crops in Calexico, Calif. “This is an enormous relief.”

After California failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to sign a deal aimed at weaning the state from its overreliance on the Colorado, Norton cut the amount of water that the state can draw from the river by 600,000 acre-feet, enough water for 1.2 million households. She also dictated who in Southern California would get how much of the state’s remaining Colorado River supply.

Whelan’s order does not affect Norton’s decision to limit the total amount of Colorado River water, but the judge found that Norton failed to follow procedure and breached contracts that date back to the Great Depression when she cut Imperial County’s Colorado River water supply and redistributed it to the Coachella Valley and the MWD.

Attorneys for the department argued in a lengthy hearing that the interior secretary was acting under her authority as congressionally designated master of the lower Colorado River. Whelan said Norton was bound by a 1930 agreement in which Southern California water agencies divided up Colorado River water.

Government attorneys, who were joined by lawyers for Coachella and the MWD, argued strenuously that Imperial County is wasting water with inefficient farming practices. The secretary of the interior has the authority to take Colorado River water from anyone found wasting it. Whelan did not address the issue.

A spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis said the ruling showed the need for Southern California water agencies to sign a new deal. A plan unveiled last week would resurrect the failed Dec. 31 agreement by dividing the Colorado waters among the four Southern California agencies.

“The judge’s injunction underscores the need for all the parties to implement” the deal, said Byron Tucker, a spokesman for the governor. “Otherwise, litigation could continue forever.”

However, Jeffrey Kightlinger, general counsel of the MWD, said Whelan’s ruling complicates efforts to sign the deal. “We’ll have to weigh all our options, including legal actions,” Kightlinger said.

He also denied charges that his agency conspired with the Interior Department to take Imperial County’s water. A department spokesman declined to comment.