United States v. Imperial Irrigation District, 67-7.
| Decision Date | 05 January 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 67-7.,67-7. |
| Citation | 322 F. Supp. 11 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of California |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. IMPERIAL IRRIGATION DISTRICT, a corporation, Defendant, John M. Bryant, Robert C. Brown, Theodore B. Shank, Harold A. Brockman, Clara Marie Gutierrez, Charles E. Nilson, Kakoo D. Singh, Stephen H. Elmore and John Kubler, Jr., Landowner Defendants, both individually and on behalf of members of a class, to wit, all persons owning more than 160 acres of irrigable land within the Imperial Valley in California. State of California, Intervening Defendant. |
Harry D. Steward, U. S. Atty., Fredrick B. Holoboff, Asst. U. S. Atty., Gary D. Weatherford, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., San Diego, Cal., David Warner and Milton Nathanson, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.
Horton, Knox, Carter & Rutherford by Reginald L. Knox, Jr., El Centro, Cal., for defendant Imperial Irrigation District.
O'Melveny & Myers by Pierce Works, Charles W. Bender and Patrick Lynch, Los Angeles, Cal., and Hervey & Mitchell by Thomas R. Mitchell, San Diego, Cal., for the Landowner Defendants.
Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen. by David B. Stanton, Deputy Atty. Gen., Los Angeles, Cal., for the State of Cal.
This is a civil action brought by the United States. This court has jurisdiction under Title 28, § 1345 of the United States Code. An actual controversy within the jurisdiction of this court exists as to whether the land limitation provisions of reclamation law (hereinafter "acreage limitation" or "160-acre limitation") have any application to privately owned lands lying within the boundaries of said defendant Imperial Irrigation District (hereinafter "District").
The parties to this controversy are plaintiff United States of America, defendant District, landowner defendants John M. Bryant, Robert C. Brown, Theodore B. Shank, Harold A. Brockman, Clara Marie Gutierrez, Charles E. Nilson, Kakoo D. Singh, Stephen H. Elmore and John Kubler, Jr., and each of them, both individually and on behalf of members of a class, to wit, all persons owning more than 160 acres of irrigable land within the District (hereinafter collectively, "landowner defendants") and intervening defendant State of California (hereinafter "California"). Heretofore, by orders duly entered, California and the landowner defendants were granted leave to intervene herein, the latter pursuant to Rule 23(b) (2), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as representatives of a class consisting of some 800 persons, each of whom own irrigable lands in excess of 160 acres. The aggregate holdings of the members of the class were approximately 233,000 acres as of September 3, 1965.
Plaintiff contends that the 160-acre limitation applies to privately owned lands within the District; and all of the defendants contend in all respects to the contrary.
There is no controversy between plaintiff and the State of California over the application of the excess land laws to the state lands in its Imperial Waterfowl Management Area. The United States, the defendant District and private landowner defendants agree with the State of California that those state lands are not subject to the excess land laws.
This opinion incorporates the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
The Imperial Irrigation District consists of lands in the Imperial Valley in California. Due to the below-sea-level topography of the Imperial Valley area, it was recognized as early as the middle of the 19th century that irrigation by means of diversion and gravity flow from the Colorado River was feasible. In comparatively recent geologic time, the Gulf of California extended inland to the northwest. Its upper limits reached northward of Indio. Through the years, the heavily silt-laden Colorado River deposited sediment and built up a low, flat deltaic ridge entirely across the ancient gulf, cutting off the upper portion from its connection with the ocean. The resulting basin was then an inland sea with a surface area of nearly 2,000 square miles. The greatest depth of this sea was about 320 feet. Deprived of its connection with the Gulf of California, the severed sea dried up, and a portion of the bed which it occupied is now known as the Salton Basin. The greater area around and including this basin is known in its northern part as the Coachella Valley and in its southern part as the Imperial Valley.
In its natural condition, the entire region was an unproductive desert. The annual rainfall averages from two to three inches. The Colorado River and the Colorado River Delta east and south of the Imperial Valley are slightly above sea level. From the delta, the land slopes gradually north and west toward the center of Imperial Valley, which is almost entirely below sea level.
During occasional flooding of the Colorado River, the overflow waters would flow down the slopes of the delta northward into the bottom of the great depression and the Salton Basin. These floodwaters would concentrate more or less in depressions and channels leading from the delta region into what is now known as Salton Sea. These channels, or depressions, form natural canals for diversion of the Colorado River waters into Imperial Valley.
The initial appropriations and diversions of water from the Colorado River were made by the California Development Company, a privately owned corporation organized in 1896 and the predecessor in interest of defendant District, which was organized in July of 1911. These appropriations and diversions laid the foundation for the present perfected water rights which have admittedly existed within the boundaries of the District from and after June 25, 1929, the effective date of the Boulder Canyon Project Act.
The first water from the Colorado River was diverted and brought to the Valley in July of 1901. This water, which was diverted about one mile north of the international boundary with Mexico, was carried by the Alamo Canal through Mexican territory and back into the United States at Imperial Valley to avoid the high mesa and sand-hill country north of the international boundary. For most of its 50 mile course in Mexico, this canal made use of an ancient overflow channel known as the Alamo River, which formerly led into the Salton Sea.
The Alamo Canal, from its point of reentry into the United States, as well as the lateral canals through which water diverted from the river was ultimately distributed to land in the Valley, were owned by seven mutual water companies which were organized by the California Development Company. The stock in such mutual water companies was ultimately acquired by the individual landowners to whose land the water was supplied.
By 1903, through the distributive facilities constructed by the local mutual water companies, approximately 25,000 acres of valley lands were in irrigated cultivation, all as a result of diversions from the River. By the following winter, the irrigated acreage was increased to 100,000. 181,191 acres were irrigated by 1910, 308,009 in 1916, 413,440 in 1919, and 424,145 in 1929, the year when the Boulder Canyon Project Act took effect.
In 1905, the Colorado River broke through its banks, which had over the years been built up above the surrounding terrain, and completely changed its course, sending a flood of water through the Alamo Canal and over the broad flat area of Imperial Valley. As a consequence, for many months the entire flow of the River passed through the washedout heading, through the Alamo Canal and into Imperial Valley, creating Salton Sea with a surface area of 330,000 acres, and threatening the entire valley with destruction. The surface of the Salton Sea, formerly nearly dry at an elevation of 273 feet below sea level, was raised to 190 feet below sea level. The efforts of the California Development Company to close the breach were unsuccessful. The Southern Pacific Company's tracks being endangered, the Southern Pacific Company advanced funds to the California Development Company to control the River and took controlling interest therein as security. By utilizing its own resources the Southern Pacific Company closed the breach in the west bank of the River and returned the River to its channel. In the Spring of 1916, the Southern Pacific Company foreclosed on the California Development Company's interests and, in June of that year, transferred them to defendant District.
In 1922-1923 District acquired all of the mutual water companies that had been organized by California Development Company. Since that time and until the present, the District has performed the entire function of diverting, transporting and distributing the water supply to farm holdings in Imperial Valley.
On November 24, 1922, the Colorado River Compact, an interstate agreement relating to allocations and rights in the waters of the River, was signed by commissioners representing the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. It became effective June 25, 1929.1
The construction of the All-American Canal was authorized as part of the general project authorized by the Boulder Canyon Project Act (hereinafter "Project Act" or "Act") of December 21, 1928, effective June 25, 1929, 45 Stat. 1057, 43 U.S.C. § 617 et seq.
At the time of the taking effect of said Project Act, the District had a distribution and drainage system which was wholly financed, constructed, maintained and operated by local means. The distribution system then, as of June 25, 1929, comprised approximately 1,700 miles of main and lateral canals, providing for the irrigation by waters diverted by it from the Colorado River of approximately 424,000 privately owned acres, computed on a single cropping basis. All of this acreage was, as of June 25, 1929, being irrigated...
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