The Modesto Irrigation District is approaching a critical juncture in its history with a decision on whether to sell Tuolumne River water to the city and county of San Francisco on an ongoing basis.
For many decades, the response to that suggestion has always been a firm and flat "no."
In the past several months, however, behind the scenes that "no" has turned into a "maybe."
Specifically, early discussions between the staffs of the MID and San Francisco have centered on two possibilities:
• The initial sale of 2,200-acre-feet per year for an unspecified number of years but as part of a long-term contract. San Francisco says it already has environmental clearance as a result of a 2008 environmental review. All sorts of particulars — including when the sale might start and at what price and for how many years — have yet to be worked out.
• A significantly larger sale — of up to 25,000 acre feet per year — also as a long-term contract. This deal would require a major environmental study and a major financial analysis.
After word of these preliminary talks surfaced last fall, the MID held four informal community meetings in October to answer questions.
But the elected MID board has not had a public discussion of the proposed sales — ever.
Thus, we don't believe the five board members — two of whom have been in office less than a month — are ready to vote on anything related to the issue, regardless of whether they are leaning toward or against any water sale.
We say that because the agenda for Tuesday's board meeting includes a vote on whether to move from informal talks to formal negotiations on the initial sale.
In our opinion, such an action would be premature.
Granted, if the majority of directors oppose the sale, then there's no use wasting everyone's time with negotiations.
But we're concerned that an early decision to move forward with negotiations will be interpreted as "yes, let's make a deal" — and that once put in motion, it would be hard to slow and nearly impossible to stop.
It's hard to see that the directors — especially the new ones — have received enough details and enough input from the MID's citizen customer-owners to make such a critical decision so quickly.
Therefore, it is important — actually, imperative — for the elected board to start holding public discussions on what would be a historic shift in practice and philosophy.
We should note that the staff indicated that Tuesday's agenda also might include a vote to start the actual EIR process, but that will not happen until later.
Calling for a delay doesn't necessarily mean that we are opposed to the smaller water sale. Rather, we don't think it should advance without a thorough discussion of a variety of issues.
Most important, like many farmers, we would want absolute guarantees that this long-term contract would not put at risk the MID's rights to Tuolumne River water in the future. These water rights and this water are the lifeblood of agriculture in the Modesto region. Reliable and low-cost irrigation water, available to both the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts, is one of the reasons why ag is so productive and farmland prices remain strong. Together, ag production and spinoff industries provide thousands of jobs.
The dry winter that we're experiencing — with no rainfall yet in sight — only sharpens our concern about whether ongoing water sales are a good idea and whether a long-term contract can be written to protect the water needs of Modesto farmers in the event of a prolonged drought.
RSS
E-Mail
Print
reprint or license
