MID board could discuss San Francisco water sale Jan. 10

MODESTO -- The Modesto Irrigation District board has tentatively set a Jan. 10 discussion on proposed water sales to San Francisco.

It would be the first time that the full board discusses the sales, which would involve Tuolumne River water that the MID plans to free up thanks to conservation projects on its canal system.

The board could vote at a later meeting on the first sale of about 2,200 acre-feet. It could take place quickly because San Francisco has completed the required study of environmental impacts.

The city, which already gets its main supply from the Tuolumne, could seek to buy up to 25,000 more acre-feet to meet growing demand over the next 25 years. This would require even greater environmental study, mainly on how the transfer would affect the river fishery.

The MID delivers about 185,000 acre-feet to farmers each year and about 35,000 acre-feet to the city of Modesto and a few other communities in Stanislaus County. An acre-foot covers an acre a foot deep.

The water sale idea has generated plenty of talk, including four meetings in October where the MID staff heard comments from the public.

Some critics said the water would be better used to support agriculture, via sales to other irrigation districts or recharge of groundwater basins.

Environmentalists argue that the water should be released in the lower Tuolumne to aid its salmon population and improve water quality.

Proponents of the sales note that they would not involve the underlying water rights and that the MID and city of Modesto would have guarantees for their Tuolumne supplies during times of drought.

The sales would help the district pay for more than $140 million in water system costs over the next

decade, including capital improvements and the federal relicensing of Don Pedro Reservoir.

The MID and San Francisco have not disclosed the prices, but district officials have said the initial deal could bring about $1.5 million per year. That works out to $682 per acre-foot, which is 101 times what the MID's farmers paid this year.

Even at that price, San Francisco officials have said the Tuolumne water still would be cheaper than alternatives such as seawater desalination and wastewater recycling.

The city's Hetch Hetchy Water and Power System supplies about 2.5 million customers in four Bay Area counties.

More information on the proposed water sales, including the MID staff's responses to questions raised by the public, is available at www.mid.org.