Oakdale Irrigation District open to selling water to SF

We salute the Oakdale Irrigation District for openness in letting its residents and other interested people know that San Francisco is interested in buying water from the district.

The board will be talking to San Francisco representatives over price and other details, but the public was given an early opportunity to comment this week.

The OID has a formal policy that calls for water transfers — another term for sales — as a strategy to pay for the expensive improvements needed in its irrigation system. Urban users such as San Francisco are willing to pay the higher prices essential to cover the canal costs; farmers are not.

It will be interesting to see whether Oakdale and San Francisco work out a short-term or long-term deal.