Producer
Imperial Irrigation District (IID)
The Imperial Irrigation District (El Centro, Imperial County CA; publicly elected board; ~500,000 acres of irrigated farmland; ~3.1 million acre-feet/year Colorado River water entitlement) is the single largest Colorado River water rights holder in California and the largest agricultural water user in the United States. IID holds Priority 1-3 water rights (the oldest and most senior rights under prior appropriation) — meaning IID's deliveries are protected even during shortage declarations that cut Arizona and Nevada. The Imperial Valley (sea-level basin, 235 feet below sea level at its lowest; extreme desert heat) produces approximately $2B+ in annual agricultural output: leafy greens and vegetables consumed nationally in winter (lettuce, broccoli, carrots), alfalfa (fed to California and Arizona dairy and beef cattle), sugar beets, and specialty crops. IID irrigates via the All-American Canal — an 82-mile concrete-lined canal completed 1942 running entirely on US soil (replacing the older Alamo Canal that crossed Mexico). IID's water rights history: the 1901 Colorado River Compact pre-dated California's statehood — making IID's rights the oldest and most protected senior rights in the entire Colorado River system. IID and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) have a long-running negotiated water transfer agreement: IID implements on-farm conservation measures and transfers conserved water to MWD's urban customers — the largest voluntary agricultural-to-urban water transfer in US history.
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Agricultural Water Delivery (IID Water)
55%Electric Utility (IID Energy)
35%Water Rights & Resource Management
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Did you know2023
The Imperial Irrigation District controls the largest agricultural water allocation in the US AND operates geothermal power plants that sit atop one of the largest known lithium brine deposits in North America. IID's geothermal operations at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field (the same accidental lake created by the 1905 Colorado River flood) produce electricity from superheated brine pumped from deep geothermal wells. That same brine contains extraordinarily high concentrations of lithium — the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area contains an estimated 18 million metric tons of lithium, potentially enough to supply US EV battery demand for decades. Multiple lithium extraction companies (including EnergySource, BHE Renewables/Berkshire Hathaway) are now developing "direct lithium extraction" technology at IID-adjacent geothermal sites. The district that grows the nation's winter lettuce and alfalfa also sits above a lithium deposit that the US Department of Energy has called "Lithium Valley" — and IID's geothermal operations are the physical infrastructure through which that lithium brine circulates. The agricultural water district that feeds the Midwest's cattle (via alfalfa) and the nation's winter salads may become a critical node in the EV battery supply chain.
US Department of Energy ↗Origin2023
The Imperial Irrigation District was formed in 1911 in direct response to a catastrophic irrigation failure. In 1905, the Colorado River flooded through a broken irrigation gate operated by the private California Development Company, sending the entire river into the Imperial Valley's Salton Sink for 18 months — creating the Salton Sea, a 35-mile-long accidental lake that still exists today. The California Development Company went bankrupt; the Southern Pacific Railroad spent $3 million to stop the flood (at President Theodore Roosevelt's request). The disaster demonstrated that private companies could not be trusted with the Colorado River at the Imperial Valley's scale, and California created IID as a publicly elected water district to take over the canal infrastructure. IID's formation in the aftermath of the Salton Sea flood is why it holds Priority 1-3 water rights (the oldest and most senior) — it was the first organized entity to develop the lower Colorado under prior appropriation doctrine, predating Arizona's statehood. The accidental sea created by a broken private irrigation gate in 1905 is the origin of the institution that now holds more Colorado River water rights than any single entity in California.
Imperial Irrigation District ↗