(Commissioner makes first visit to Imperial County)….Brenda Burman was confirmed as Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner in November.
Burman, the first woman to serve as Commissioner of the Bureau, attended Tuesday’s Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors meeting. She made a presentation on the challenging hydrology at Lake Mead and the Bureau’s stepped-up efforts to develop drought contingency plans in both basins of the Colorado River watershed to mitigate against looming shortage triggers under the 2007 guidelines. Burman said the River is in its 19th year of drought and the guidelines needed to be updated and contingency plans needed to be negotiated by the end of the year. She was asking all stakeholders in the Colorado River to participate in the negotiation process to develop drought contingency plans by the end of this year. Burman said a shortage is expected to occur at Lake Mead if plans were not in place by the year 2020. The Lake’s current elevation is at 1,082 feet. The first shortage trigger point of 1,075 feet would force the Bureau to cut some of its water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada. A shortage trigger point of 1,025 feet could mean cuts to Imperial Irrigation District. The IID holds senior water rights on the River.