Third Amendment to the Delivery and Exchange Agreement between MWD and CVWD for 35,000 acre-feet
Summary
SCH Number
2025050648
Public Agency
Coachella Valley Water District
(CVWD)
Document Title
Third Amendment to the Delivery and Exchange Agreement between MWD and CVWD for 35,000 acre-feet
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
5/15/2025
Document Description
The Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) proposes to amend its Delivery and Exchange Agreement with the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) for 35,000 Acre-Feet (af). The Delivery and Exchange Agreement was negotiated as part of the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) and was executed by CVWD and MWD on October 10, 2003. A Supplemental Agreement for the years 2011, 2012, and 2013 was signed in 2011. Two amendments have previously been made to the original Delivery and Exchange Agreement for 35 taf, with the First Amendment executed in 2015 and the Second Amendment executed in 2019 and expiring on December 31, 2026 (aligning with the termination of the 2007 Interim Guidelines for the Colorado River).
The 2003 Delivery and Exchange Agreement for 35,000 af, as previously amended, provides that MWD transfer to CVWD up to 35,000 acre-feet per year of MWD State Water Project (SWP) water through 2035. This water is exchanged for an equivalent amount of MWD Colorado River water delivered by MWD to CVWD at the Colorado River Aqueduct Turnout to the Whitewater River. The minor modifications in the proposed Third Amendment to the 2003 Delivery and Exchange Agreement for 35,000 af would be:
• The total amount of 315,000 af transfer water to be delivered to CVWD between January 1, 2027, and December 31, 2035.
• Setting goal for MWD and CVWD of working toward extending the Delivery and Exchange Agreement to 2077 (current expiration date is 2035) conditioned on extending the SWP Exchange Agreement to 2085. The date of 2077 aligns with the QSA expiration date.
• Extending CVWD’s existing ability to request delivery at Imperial Dam for overrun protection as needed.
• Allowing MWD flexibility to defer the exchange delivery in any year but delivering the entire 315,000 af no later than 2035.
• Continuing current practice of MWD reimbursing CVWD for a portion of its unused Colorado River water.
• Setting water cost at $400/af through 2026 and escalated at 4.8% annually starting in 2027.
• Providing option for predelivery of up to 200,000 af total in 2025 and 2026.
o Recognizing the benefit of advancing funds through predelivery, MWD reduced the annual escalator to 3.9% starting in 2027 (assuming the full delivery of 200,000 af) while retaining the water rate at $400/af through 2026 (Table 2).
• For billing purposes, annual cost would be based on either 35,000 af/yr (no predelivery) or 12,778 af/yr (with predelivery), applied at the current year cost with the appropriate escalator.
• MWD would invoice CVWD by June 30 for any water exchanged, or scheduled to be exchanged, in the prior fiscal year (July 1 – June 30).
Contact Information
Name
Robert Cheng
Agency Name
Coachella Valley Water District
Job Title
Coachella Valley Water District
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Email
Location
Cities
Throughout areas of Riverside, Imperial, and San Diego
Counties
Imperial, Riverside, San Diego
Regions
Countywide
Other Location Info
Throughout Riverside, Imperial, and San Diego Counties
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Other
Type, Section or Code
Not a Project: State CEQA Guidelines §15378
Reasons for Exemption
Approval of the Third Amendment to the 2003 Delivery and Exchange Agreement for 35,000 Acre-Feet is not subject to CEQA for multiple reasons. First, approval of the Second Amendment to the 2003 Delivery and Exchange Agreement for 35,000 Acre-Feet is not subject to CEQA because it does not constitute a “project,” under CEQA, i.e., pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines §15378(a), the action has no potential to result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment because the action will merely result in minor administrative changes to an existing agreement and will have no effect on the environment.
Second, approval of the Third Amendment to the 2003 Delivery and Exchange Agreement for 35,000 Acre-Feet is not subject to CEQA because it does not constitute a “project,” pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines §15378(b)(5), because the minor administrative changes to the existing agreement will not result in any change to the previously approved entitlements and constitutes an organizational or administrative activity that will not result in a direct or indirect physical change in the environment not previously analyzed.
Exempt Status
Other
Type, Section or Code
Review for Exemption/Common Sense Exemption: State CEQA Guideline §15061(b)(3)
Reasons for Exemption
Third, even if approval of the Third Amendment to the 2003 Delivery and Exchange Agreement for 35,000 Acre-Feet did constitute a “project” subject to CEQA, the action would be exempt from CEQA review pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines §15061(b)(3); because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that approval of the amendment may have a significant effect on the environment. The Third Amendment to the 2003 Delivery and Exchange Agreement for 35,000 Acre-Feet will result in minor changes regarding the administration of an existing agreement; there will be no changes or adverse impacts to the environment as a result of the minor administrative changes.
County Clerks
Imperial, Riverside, San Diego
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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