Letter to the editor: Moving forward with QSA

There are probably many readers who will be surprised that I am in agreement with the Imperial Valley Press on anything, considering my relationship with the newspaper during my time as a county supervisor, but that’s history (and I always hated that class). I completely agree with the paper on the importance of the Quantification Settlement Agreement to the Imperial Valley.

I was chairman of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors when the QSA was put together and approved by the Imperial Irrigation District. I attended all of the meetings in Los Angeles and, thanks to one IID board member, Rudy Maldonado, I was invited to many other meetings of the interested parties and all were informative.

Although Mr. Maldonado tried to include me, there were a number of meetings in which I was asked to leave because the other participants didn’t want the county of Imperial represented, which is what led to the county seeking a seat at the table through litigation.

I was in touch with elected officials at every level of government throughout this process and I can assure you that had the QSA not been approved in 2003, we would have had a water transfer forced on us and received nothing from it. Is the QSA the answer to all of our water issues? No. Could it have been a better document? Maybe. Was it necessary? A definite yes.

Through negotiations we might overcome deficiencies in the QSA, but do not believe for one minute that a letter from an IID board member to the federal government or elected officials will garner any commitment they are willing to keep. You might get an answer, but when the pressure is put on those in high places and their voters get thirsty, no one will care about us, but they will want our water.

The litigation against the QSA needs to stop and we need to move forward. If we don’t, in my opinion we will wish we had.

Hank Kuiper

El Centro