(Board of Supervisors discuss IID litigation)….County legal counsel gave an update.

The litigation is between Mike Abatti and the Imperial Irrigation District. Abatti filed the litigation against the District in 2013. Last year Superior Court Judge Anderholt issued a decision in the litigation. It included an order that the IID repeal its Equitable Distribution Plan. The IID appealed that decision and Abatti filed a cross appeal. The Appellate court denied both appeals, and the District Repealed the Equitable Distribution plan in 2018. All the while, the IID has appealed Anderholts original decision. That appeal is still pending. Several spoke in favor of the Imperial Irrigation District’s appeal. Others suggested the Board pf Supervisors look deeper into the issues before taking sides. It was also suggested the District work out a compromise with Abatti. Without the EDP, IID water is currently subject to the California Constitution’s reasonable and beneficial standard, the Quantification Settlement Agreement’s 3.1 million acre foot annual consumptive use cap and the federal Inadvertent Overrun and Payback policy.