The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors has approved a System Conservation Implementation Agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation to conserve 700,000 acre-feet of water through 2026, making it the largest such agreement in the Colorado River basin.
SCIA will provide funding for conservation programs that will help conserve up to 300,000 acre-feet a year of water in Lake Mead “to aid the drought-stricken Colorado River.”
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The move will be vital to Imperial Valley agriculture. SCIA funding, combined with the programs from the Quantification Settlement Agreement, will total up to 750,000 acre-feet of conservation each year, which is about 24% of IID’s annual Colorado River entitlement. According to the release, one in six jobs in the Imperial Valley is directly related to agriculture.
“IID’s efforts provide an example for other states and regions to follow as we plan for a drier future in the Colorado River basin,” JB Hamby, IID Vice Chairman and Colorado River Commissioner for California, said in a release.
