Questions arise on plan to keep groundwater data secret

To figure out how to protect Stanislaus County’s groundwater resources, county officials know they must calculate how much groundwater is being pumped.

But most of the county’s water wells are privately owned, and those doing the pumping currently don’t have to tell anyone how much water they’re using.

And many of them don’t want people – especially lawyers – to find out.

At least that’s what farmers who irrigate with well water have been telling the county’s Water Advisory Committee.

That committee is crafting the county’s new groundwater ordinance. Members are scheduled to discuss and vote on the ordinance Wednesday morning.

The current proposal would require well owners to start routinely disclosing their pumping data and water level measurements.

“There is a critical need for water well extraction data to analyze and understand the degree of groundwater depletion or recharge, to establish water budgets, and to balance conjunctive use of groundwater resources,” the proposed ordinance explains.

But while county officials want that well data, they promise to keep it secret from the public.

The ordinance characterizes groundwater information as being “confidential and proprietary,” and contends the need “to maintain the confidentiality of such information outweighs the public need” to see it.

So the county wants to exempt well data from California Public Records Act disclosure requirements.

Stanislaus County’s top government attorney, John Doering, says this is legal.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association’s lead attorney, Jim Ewert, says no.

Doering cites two government codes – one involving “trade secrets” and the other involving “geological and geophysical” and “plant production” data – as justification for denying the public access to groundwater records.

Ewert doesn’t buy those arguments.

“They are claiming groundwater is a trade secret? Seriously?” Ewert said in response to Doering’s legal citations. “What is unique about this info that creates a competitive disadvantage if known to competitors?”

Ewert said “there is not a single case” where groundwater data has been interpreted as being protected under the codes Doering cites.

Ewert and the newspaper association – to which The Modesto Bee belongs – routinely advocate for the rights of the public to access public information. The California Public Records Act guarantees that right in most cases.

“The California Constitution requires a narrow interpretation of any exemption that limits the public’s right of access,” Ewert said. “The county’s interpretation of both these laws is a violation of this constitutional standard.”

Bee Editor Joe Kieta agreed with Ewert’s interpretation.

“Water is a shared resource, and any pump records maintained by government should be open for public inspection,” Kieta said.

While the Water Advisory Committee is expected to vote on the proposed groundwater ordinance today, it won’t be considered by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors until at least next month.

The committee will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Kirk Lindsey Alliance Center, 1020 10th St. in Modesto.

This story was originally published October 28, 2014 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Questions arise on plan to keep groundwater data secret."