Imperial Valley Press
Lawsuit against Imperial Irrigation District shifts focus
August 05, 2009
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Imperial Irrigation District have narrowed their objections against the district, following a hearing this morning.
The original version of the lawsuit, filed by farmers including Ben and James Abatti, Ronald Leimgruber and Doug Westmoreland, said that the district did not have the authority to grant water to industrial users.
This came after the finalization of the district's equitable distribution plan, which is a way for the IID to allocate water in years it's projected to use more than it's alloted.
Under the plan, cities and businesses get a set portion of water and are heavily fined if they go over, while farmers start with a set portion of acre-feet per acre, but have the ability to return to the district and get more if needed.
But the most recent version of the lawsuit has dropped that claim, and instead argues that the district needs to ensure that they distribute water equally, said Stephen Meyer, the plaintiffs' attorney.
"You can't prefer one group over another," Meyer said.
Mark Hattam, the attorney for the IID, said if that was the core issue, then the case should no longer focus on which customers have priority for water, and instead focus on whether the IID acted fairly when setting up the equitable distribution plan.
"They now need to live with what they're saying," Hattam said.
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