WSP12980

• File Number: 8210.140.20.C
• Description: Imperial Irrigation District ‎(IID)‎
• State: CA
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/9/1996
• Author: Imperial Irrigation District
• Title: Water Requirements and Availability Sutdy ‎(draft)‎
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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In 1942, as a result of the Boulder Canyon Project Act, the construction of the All-American
Canal was completed, replacing the Alamo Channel through Mexico. By 1952, the District had
assumed control (operation and maintenance) of the entire All-American Canal, and in 1961
ended its 50-year history of international operations by selling its Mexican holdings to the
government of Mexico.

In 1989, the IID entered into a water conservation and transfer agreement with Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California (MWD), continuing the District's tradition of conservation
programs that had begun back in 1954 with the initial concrete lining of canals and laterals, and
subsequent programs for system and on-farm improvements. The agreement with MWD resulted
in the construction of a state-of-the-art Water Control Center and the automation of a portion of
the water delivery system. Additionally, as a part of this agreement, funding was made available
for a wide variety of conservation projects ranging from on-farm practices to regulating
reservoirs and lateral interceptors.

ILD lID Water Rights
The foundation of IID's water rights are appropriative rights established under state law by
notices posted at Hanlon's heading on the Colorado River from 1885 to 1899. These rights were
conveyed by Southern Pacific Company to the IID in June of 1915. Subsequently, in 1921
representatives from the seven Colorado River basin states, with the authorization of their
legislatures and at the urging of the Federal government, began negotiations regarding the
distribution of waters from the Colorado River. In November of 1922, the representatives from
the upper (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) and lower (Arizona, California, and
Nevada) basin states signed the Colorado River Compact (Compact), an interstate agreement
giving each basin perpetual rights to individual apportionments of 7.5 million acre-feet of
Colorado River water annually.

The Compact was made effective by provisions in the 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act (45
Stat. 1056), which authorized the construction of Hoover Dam and the All-American Canal and
served as the United States' consent to accept this Compact. Officially enacted on June 25, 1929

Draft: Subject To Revision 12/21/95

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