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<br />002432 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Stale Water Resources Control Board <br /> <br />Last month the Board discussed the State Water Resources Control Board's (SWRCB) proposed <br />schedule to review the joint petition of the Imperial Irrigation District (110) and the San Diego County <br />Water Authority (SDCW A) for approval of a long-term transfer of conserved water from 110 to SDCW A. <br />As a result of the pre-hearing conference on January 23'd, the SWRCB has concluded that conducting the <br />hearing in two phases would save time and resources, and give parties and interested persons more time <br />to evaluate the joint draft EIR/EIS recently released by lID and Reclamation, Included in the handout <br />material is a copy of the SWRCB's February 6'h notice announcing the changes in the hearing procedures. <br /> <br />Phase I of the hearing will commence on April 23'd-and continue if necessary on April 24'h and <br />April 29'\ and address whether the transfer would result in substantial injury to any legal user of water, <br />and other key issues concerning the transfer, lID's water rights, and lID's conservation program, Phase II <br />will commence on April 30'h and continue if necessary on May I ", and will address whether the transfer <br />would unreasonably affect fish, wildlife, or other instream beneficial uses, <br /> <br />Basin States/Ten Tribes Discussion <br /> <br />Meeting of Basin States Representatives <br /> <br />The Basin States' representatives met on January 16,2002, and February 1,2002, The focus of the <br />January 16th meeting, was to prepare for the February I, 2002, meeting with the Assistant Secretary for <br />Water and Science, Bennett Raley, and Dennis Linskey from the State Department. The Basin States' <br />discussed the need to form a technical tearn to better understand the situation in Mexico regarding current <br />and future water budgets, opportunities to obtain water in Mexico for the Colorado River Delta, and the <br />quanti'ty and timing of the wat,er needs for habitat restoration, <br /> <br />Arizona raised the issue of operation of the Yuma Desalting Plant and urged support from <br />Reclamation and the Basin states to operate the Yuma Desalting Plant or account for the water in the By- <br />Pass Drain as part of the United States' delivery of water to Mexico under the 1944 Mexican Water Treaty, <br />Arizona indicated that the water currently flowing in the By-Pass Drain has the effect of taking water out <br />of storage at Lake Mead and since the Central Arizona Project takes the first shortage, this has direct <br />impacts on Arizona's future water supply, <br /> <br />Also, briefly discussed at the meeting were inter-basin transfers being contemplated by Arizona, <br />New Mexico, and Utah, There will be further discussion of these potential transfers and whether they can <br />occur under the "Law of the River" at the further Basin States meetings. <br /> <br />On February 1,2002, representatives from the Basin states met with Assistant Secretary for Water <br />and Science, Bennett Raley, the Commissioner of Reclamation, John Keys and Dennis Linskey from the <br />State Department. During the meeting, a draft report was distributed by Reclamation entitled "Cooperative <br />Efforts with Mexico to Promote Environmental Restoration Efforts in the Colorado River Delta," The <br />report, which has been included in the Board folder, recognizes that for Reclamation to conduct studies <br /> <br />7 <br />