KXO RADIO - Ormat and the District sign water contract

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Todays is : Thursday, 08 January 2009

Written by George Gale
Wednesday, 08 October 2008
(Ormat gets water contract)…The Imperial Irrigation district directors approve the contract with Ormat, but the vote is not unanimous. Ormat wants 6,800-acre feet of water per year for their 49.9 megawatt geothermal plant north of Brawley. Director Mike Abatti said that was too much water. Abatti said he would not called it a water sale, but rather a water transfer. He said the District should not be promoting the renewable resource industry at the expense of Agriculture. Abatti said he supported renewables, but not at the detriment of Agriculture. Directors Jim Hanks and Stella Mendoza said they would not pit one industry against another. Mendoza said it was not fair to call the water sale a transfer. She said the IID has taken a stand to support the new industry, and they should have started ten years ago. The 20 year contract was approved on a 4-1 vote. Before the vote, it was agreed the County and the District had to form a better working relationship for future projects. The contract with Ormat provides the requested amount of water for ten years. After that, Ormat must fill their need with alternative sources of water, approved by the IID. Ormat will pay the industrial rate for the water and they contribute $1.5 million towards the District’s upcoming integrated water resources management plan. Ormat may also provide resource experts in the development of the plan.