The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors passed a re-worked version of the Revised Equitable Distribution Plan (EDP) and 2014 Apportionment less than a week after rejecting an earlier version.
The newly revised EDP and 2014 Apportionment, adopted on October 28, 2013, distribute water among the district’s irrigators using a method that combines both straight-line and historical use distribution methods on a 50-50 basis. Under a straight-line distribution method, irrigators would receive 5.45 AF/acre. While an historical use method would provide each irrigator with their average historical use over the last ten years (taking out the highest and lowest year). Under the hybrid method, they will receive 50 percent of what they would get under a straight-line apportionment and 50 percent of what they would get under the historical use method. The EDP allows for an intra-district clearinghouse to facilitate transfers.
The EDP had to be revised and an apportionment plan implemented for 2014 so that IID could meet it payback obligations under the federal Inadvertent Overrun and Payback Policy (IOPP) that have IID set to payback 154,738 AF in 2014. Hydrological conditions and the elevation of Lake Mead at the beginning of 2013 have triggered an obligation for IID to payback its entire 2012 overrun in 2014, in addition to paying the remainder of its 2011 overrun.
On October 22nd, the Board rejected a straight-line apportionment directing staff to come back with data on historical use. Regarding the adoption of the new October 28 Revised EDP and 2014 Apportionment, Board President Matt Dessert said, “We’re trying to be fair, and these actions reflect that.”
View the board presentation on the Revised Equitable Distribution Plan & 2014 Apportionment (PDF)
By Marta Weismann