Never mind: OID and SSJID cancel large water sale to West Side because of drought
The worsening drought has canceled a large water sale to West Side farmers by the Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts.
They announced Wednesday that their own customers will need the water, which had been declared surplus in early March. A revised forecast of Stanislaus River runoff scuttled the sale, which could have brought up to $25 million to the sellers.
The water would have been delivered down the Stanislaus to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, then pumped to buyers as far south as Kern County.
The higher flow would have been timed to help young salmon get out to the Pacific Ocean. That “pulse” will still happen in late April and early May, but at a much lower volume.
OID and SSJID often have surplus water to sell during droughts because of senior rights, past conservation efforts and an agreement on storage in New Melones Reservoir.
Some of the West Side districts expect only 5% of their contracted volume from the federal Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.
OID and SSJID had planned to sell up to 100,000 acre-feet at $250 per acre-foot to two agencies representing users of state and federal water. That’s roughly 20 times what their own customers pay to irrigate farmland in northeast Stanislaus and southeast San Joaquin counties.
The two districts have used past water sale income to upgrade their canal systems and keep customer rates low, although OID has critics who say the water should stay home.
Wednesday’s announcement also said the 2021 sale was hampered because the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation could not agree on carrying it out in time.
The central Sierra Nevada snowpack was just 41% of average as of Tuesday, the California Department of Water Resources reported. The winter stated slow, got a boost with a few big storms in January, and has since slid back.
The Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts have capped their customers at about 80% of the accustomed deliveries from the Tuolumne River. A large stretch of the West Side from Crows Landing to Mendota will get 75% from the federal system because of senior rights.
Neither OID nor SSJID has put a cap on farmers, but they are urged to use the supply carefully in case 2022 is dry, too.
“We ask growers to be extra mindful on the reasonable and prudent uses of water in this drought year,” OID General Manager Steve Knell said by email.
SJJID General Manager Peter Rietkerk said it hopes to get by without a cap, but a decision might not come until early May. The district also treats river water to supplement city wells in Escalon, Manteca, Lathrop and Tracy.
“... we are hopeful that a combination of operational changes, drought-minded grower irrigation and municipal use, and recent automation improvements throughout the district will help us weather the year without having to establish any caps or cuts,” Rietkerk said.
This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 2:22 PM.
