The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has launched a legal
battle, based on its aboriginal water rights, for clean water and plenty
of it for its citizens and neighboring communities in the Coachella
Valley.The Band filed a federal lawsuit in May asking the court to
declare that the tribe has prior and paramount rights to ground and
surface water in the Coachella Valley, to quantify those rights, and
stop the local water authorities from further degrading the quantity and
quality of water in the aquifer. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S.
District Court for the Central District of California and names the
Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) and Desert Water Agency (DWA) as
defendants.
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The lawsuit says the two water
agencies have adversely affected the quantity and quality of the Valleys
groundwater for decades by overdrafting the groundwater while importing
Colorado River water with higher levels of salinity and dissolved
solids. A water quality study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey
found higher levels of contaminants in Coachella Valley aquifers
compared to the rest of the state.
"Since at least the 1990s,
the Agua Caliente and others have aggressively urged the CVWD and DWA to
take action to end the mismanagement, overdrafting and polluting of the
aquifer underlying the Coachella Valley," Grubbe said. "The tribe has
patiently attempted to work with CVWD and DWA to address these long
standing concerns but to no avail. This precious resource is crucial to
the future of this region and we must take action now."
The
tribe cites long settled federal law to support its senior water rights
claim, including a precedent-setting Supreme Court decision in 1908,
Winters v. United States, which set the standard for tribal water rights
on reservations. The high court concluded, among other things, that
when the U.S. government created Indian reservations, it intended that
the people on the reservations would become self-reliant and
self-sufficient. Since water is needed to achieve self-sufficiency, for
example, in agriculture, water rights were implicitly reserved for
tribes in establishing reservations, the court said.
The
Cahuilla Indians, ancestors of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians, have lived in the Coachella Valley since time immemorial and
the reservation was established in 1876, therefore, the Band argues, the
tribe's surface and groundwater rights are the most senior in the
Coachella Valley, predating all water rights decreed or otherwise
claimed under California State law.
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The
two agencies filed separate but similar responses to the lawsuit on
July 8, denying that the tribe has aboriginal title to the surface and
ground waters of the valley. Their responses say that the groundwater
they supply to customers meets federal and state water quality
standards, and that the tribe does not have ownership of pore space in
any aquifer underlying the Coachella Valley. They also argue that the
water storage space provided by the aquifer is a public resource. And
they ask the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Grubbe issued a
statement saying the tribe would review the CVWD/DWA responses, but
emphasized that the tribes lawsuit is about the future of Coachella
Valleys water supply. What is most astonishing is the water agencies
continue to deny there is any issue with the water. Independent
investigations and their own documents attest to the fact that the local
water is being depleted and polluted, Grubbe said. We are asking the
federal court to declare our senior water rights so we can be proactive
in partnership with Coachella Valley residents and prevent the Desert
Water Agency and the Coachella Valley Water District from continuing to
overdraft the aquifer and degrade the quality of existing groundwater.
The
water agencies have warned there will be a hike in water bills if the
tribe wins in court, a claim Grubbe called a deceptive attempt. to
frighten the public and mislead the community. He pointed out that the
water agencies have regularly increased rates over the past 10 years
sometimes as much as 394 percent. This is not about rates, Grubbe said,
it is about ending the mismanagement of our water resources and
protecting it for generations of Coachella Valley residents to come.
The
High River Hospital is currently only operating at half capacity. They
have two physicians, three nurses and clerical staff on-site from both
the regular staff and physicians displaced from the Charles Clark
Medical Centre and Highwood Health Centre in High River. The hospital
took on a few inches of water in the flood, damaging some of their
medical records, the physiotherapy area, cancer clinic and back hallway.
Brisebois Blouin said from the time they knew flooding could occur,
they moved equipment up to the third floor and sandbagged the generator
in the back hallway.
The hospitals urgent care is open 24-hours a
day. Urgent care is for non-life threatening health issues that require
same-day treatment, such as broken bones, sprains, lacerations, asthma,
dehydration, pain and infections. For life-threatening emergency
situations, Alberta Health Services urges people to call 911. There are
other nearby health centres fully operational including the Okotoks
Health and Wellness Centre, Oilfields General Hospital in Black Diamond
and the South Health Campus in Calgary.
While the High River
Hospital was closed, the Okotoks Health and Wellness Centre operated
24-hours a day with displaced staff from the hospital. They saw an
increase of people, about 150 patients a day as opposed to their regular
75 patients a day, said James Finstad, communications for Alberta
Health Services. However,Molded Soft PVC coaster with
your custom design and colors. he said the Health and Wellness Centre
was never close to capacity, with the average wait time being a standard
two hours.
While the Health and Wellness Centre has now
returned to regular operating hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., the High River
low-risk obstetrics clinic is still operating in Okotoks because it is
usually held in the cancer clinic at the High River Hospital that is now
being repaired after water damage.
Finstad said part of the
clean-up process is ensuring infection prevention is controlled and
everything meets standard. Crews are currently running dehumidifiers and
disinfecting walls, floors and various surfaces.
With the
opening of urgent care at the High River Hospital, residents still need
to be careful cleaning up their homes. Brisebois Blouin said she has
seen an increase of wounds needing tetanus shots. Alberta Health is
urging people cleaning their homes to wear puncture-proof boots, gloves
and facemasks. If there are no open wounds, chief medical officer Dr.
James Talbot said the bacteria in the silt isnt too much of an issue.
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