Historic Water Transfer Agreement Documents Finalized
January 15, 2003
The San Diego County Water Authority and the Imperial Irrigation District have signed the largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer in history.
The San Diego County Water Authority and the Imperial Irrigation District have signed the largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer in history.
The agencies reached agreement on Dec. 31, 2002, on the amendments to their 1998 Water Conservation and Transfer Agreement. Agency officials spent the last two weeks reconciling agreement documents. The agreement was signed this week by Maureen Stapleton, general manager of the Water Authority, and Lloyd Allen, president of the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors. The agreement encompasses a transfer of up to 200,000 acre-feet per year from IID to the Water Authority for up to 75 years.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach agreement on a broader plan to reduce California’s draw on the Colorado River – the Quantification Settlement Agreement – continue.
“The Water Authority is hopeful that additional negotiations on the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) will ultimately result in all of the key deals coming together,” Stapleton said. “It is in the best interests of all of California that we reach agreement on the QSA.”
The San Diego County Water Authority is a public agency serving the San Diego region as a wholesale supplier of water from Northern California and the Colorado River. The Water Authority works through its 23 member agencies to provide a safe, reliable water supply to almost three million county residents.
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