Imperial Valley Ca

Officials of three water agencies in Southern California, joined by officials from Nevada and Arizona, on Thursday accused the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California of trying to sabotage a historic water deal in order to maintain its bureaucratic power. The criticism of the MWD by officials from San Diego, Coachella Valley, Imperial Valley, Phoenix and Las Vegas was strong even by the standards used in water disputes.

Negotiators for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California offered a counterproposal in the proposed sale of water from the Imperial Valley to San Diego County that is meant to protect Metropolitan customers from being billed for environmental projects at the Salton Sea. Metropolitan board members have insisted that the environmental costs of the sale be paid by the San Diego County Water Authority, Coachella Valley Water District and Imperial Irrigation District.

For the first time in months, top federal and state officials reported progress Wednesday in the contentious negotiations over a proposed Southern California water deal long considered crucial to the state's ability to avoid water shortages. Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley and former state Assemblyman Richard Katz, a member of the California Water Quality Control Board who is representing Gov.

A federal agency with authority over the Colorado River ruled Thursday that Imperial Valley farmers are guilty of wasting water and should have their mammoth allocation of the river reduced by 9%. The ruling by Robert Johnson, the Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado regional director, was immediately denounced by farmers and officials of the Imperial Irrigation District who vowed to fight any reduction to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation this week is scheduled to issue a ruling addressing one of the most controversial questions in California water politics: Do the farmers of the water-rich Imperial Valley waste water? At stake is whether the Bush administration will be able to cut back the Imperial Valley's lavish allocation of water from the Colorado River, allowing some of that water to flow to thirsty coastal cities, including Los Angeles and San Diego.

A Mexican state police agent is among 12 people suspected of being part of an Imperial Valley-based drug trafficking ring. U.S. authorities last week arrested the suspects following a 10-month investigation in which they seized about 5 pounds of methamphetamine and 110 pounds of marijuana in the Imperial Valley area. Investigators believe the ring distributed drugs in Phoenix, Orange County and Los Angeles.

A swarm of small earthquakes, the strongest magnitude 4.0, rattled an area of the Imperial Valley near the town of Brawley on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The first of at least 30 quakes occurred at 10:03 a.m., and the sequence intensified several hours later. A 3.5 quake took place at 4:53 p.m., followed by a 3.0 temblor about half an hour later and a 4.0 quake at 7:04 p.m. Between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Efforts to secure a major water transfer between Imperial Valley farmers and San Diego took a step forward late Tuesday when the Imperial Irrigation District board effectively guaranteed the availability of some of the water necessary for the deal. The board waived a requirement that water conservation contracts with farmers be in place by Oct. 31. The conservation is necessary to free up agricultural water for transfer to San Diego in the latter years of the deal's term.

If there is a moral in the confrontation between the water barons of the Imperial Valley and the outside world, it may be the backwoods truism about swamp drainage. It says that when you're up to your hipbone in alligators, it's difficult to remember that your initial goal was merely to drain the swamp.

LAS VEGAS -- Hopes that coastal Southern California might get a reprieve from a Dec. 31 deadline and avoid a water cutback were dashed Monday when Interior Secretary Gale Norton said she will immediately order such a reduction if a deal for Imperial Valley farmers to sell water to cities is not reached. Some officials at the annual convention of the Colorado River Water Users Assn.