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Imperial Irrigation District QSA Briefing Summary March 3, 2003 - The QSA was not executed by all parties prior to the December 31, 2002 deadline. This has resulted in significant water supply impacts for southern California. Some of the important concepts involved in the QSA effort are summarized below. - The Interim Surplus Guidelines (ISG) water provided significant benefits to southern California, but such special surplus water releases were tied to execution of the QSA by 12/31/02 and meeting certain water transfer benchmarks. As a result ofthe failure to meet the deadline, the special ISG water releases have been suspended. - The State of California is presently devoting considerable time and effort in helping to negotiate a restructured QSA. The state has expressed a willingness to bring state resources to the table to facilitate agreement. If a restructured QSA is developed and agreed to, state legislative and administrative actions will be needed to provide the necessary state-law support for a restructured QSA. - As a result ofa variety of factors, including the enactment of new state law, there is now greater linkage between the QSA water transfers and the effort to reclaim the Salton Sea. In addition, QSA transfer mitigation requirements connected to the Salton Sea present part of the QSA financial burden that the state and the QSA parties are attempting to address. - State and federal Endangered Species Act compliance is a necessity for any restructured . QSA. Initial ESA compliance will be through a Section 7 compliance process carried out primarily by the Bureau of Reclamation. Later in time the Section 7 process will be supplanted by a Section 10 Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) to be developed by lID and the otherQSA parties. - The Secretarial Implementation Agreement (SIA) is one of the key documents that is necessary to have a binding QSA. The terms of the SIA were worked out among the QSA parties and the Department of the Interior in late December. Adherence to those terms will be essential if a restructured QSA is to become effective. - Interior took action in late December to cut-back lID's water supply for the 2003 water year. Interior's actions have been challenged by lID in federal court. MWD and Coachella have intervened in the case on the side ofthe government. lID's motion for a preliminary injunction against Interior will be heard on March 18th. - Actions needed at the state and federal levels to support a restructured QSA: 1) Maintain support for the strong efforts of the State of California to help negotiate a restructured QSA; 2) Following development of a restructured QSA, allow time for the state to carry out legislative and administrative actions to provide the necessary state-law support for the QSA; 3) When the restructured QSA becomes effective, support California in having the special ISG surplus water releases reinstated; and 4) help support a peaceful resolution of the litigation and restoration of lID's fuI12003 water supply.