Efforts to protect groundwater continue

Stanislaus County supervisors say they’re intensely focused on finding long-term solutions to groundwater problems, but some of their comments were challenged by those at a Monday gathering.

Supervisors Terry Withrow and Bill O’Brien told members of the Stanislaus Water Coalition about the county’s groundwater stabilization efforts, and they acknowledged much remains to be done.

“We are constantly working on this thing,” Withrow assured.

Tuesday, for example, Withrow said he’ll meet with representatives from the Modesto, Turlock and Oakdale irrigation districts in an attempt to foster cooperation.

Withrow said that in the past, “everybody was in their little silos … and they wanted to protect their territory.” But he wants them to “start thinking regionally and stop thinking just about their irrigation district.”

Withrow said all Stanislaus agencies need to work together on groundwater and surface water issues. “Eventually, we want to move water around the county” to make the best use of all Stanislaus resources, he said.

“OID is a big piece of solving this whole puzzle.” Withrow said. “It needs to be a player sitting at the table helping to solve this thing.”

Oakdale Irrigation is a water-rich district that typically has more water than its farmers need, and it frequently sells water to out-of-county agencies. OID sells its surplus surface water from Sierra runoff and pumps groundwater from aquifers.

Concerns about groundwater pumping by OID and farmers were raised by Valley Home resident Mike Tozzi, whose home well went dry in June. Tozzi urged county leaders to produce a sustainable groundwater management plan “that truly balances public and private interests.”

O’Brien noted that supervisors are working to get someone from OID to join the county Water Advisory Committee. That committee drafted the county’s new groundwater management ordinance, which supervisors recently approved.

Some of the more than 35 community members in attendance Monday criticized the county for not going far enough to monitor groundwater pumping and restrict new well drilling.

“Why can’t we have open records and be completely transparent?” asked Brad Barker of Modesto, who wants public access to groundwater pumping data. “Just open the books.”

Sharon Getchel of Oakdale stressed the importance of managing groundwater in ways that will achieve security for future generations. “We may not see it ourselves,” she said, “but our children and grandchildren will.”

Options for forming groundwater sustainability agencies will be explored Friday during the Stanislaus Water Summit 2015.

More than 150 community members have registered to attend that free public event, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Stanislaus County Agricultural Center’s Harvest Hall, 3800 Cornucopia Way, Modesto.

For more information, call the county Department of Environmental Resources at (209) 525-6700.

This story was originally published January 12, 2015 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Efforts to protect groundwater continue."