State’s curtailment orders draw lawsuits from Modesto-area water users and San Francisco
The state’s curtailment of river diversions has drawn lawsuits from eight irrigation districts in and near Stanislaus County, along with San Francisco.
The three filings claim that the State Water Resources Control Board exceeded its authority with the Aug. 20 orders. The plaintiffs also said they did not get enough chance beforehand to make their cases for continued diversions.
One suit was filed Sept. 2 by the Modesto, Turlock, Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts and San Francisco. It involves the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers.
The second filing was a day earlier by the Patterson, West Stanislaus and Banta-Carbona irrigation districts. They mostly tap the San Joaquin River on the West Side.
The third suit was filed Sept. 2 by the Merced Irrigation District over its use of the Merced River.
The orders came amid a two-year drought that has drastically reduced river flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. They do not affect water already in reservoirs, which has helped farm and city users get through the summer.
State officials said the orders will help provide the flows needed for water quality and fish habitat in the delta. Its massive pumps also supply part of the domestic water for Southern California and other areas.
The suits named as defendants the five-member board and Deputy Director Erik Ekdahl, who was tasked with carrying out the orders.
A spokesperson said in an emailed statement Tuesday that the agency could not comment on the litigation. It did provide a general defense of the orders:
“In response to the extraordinary drought in California, the State Water Board utilized its emergency drought authority and adopted regulations designed to implement the state’s water rights priority system, protect minimum health and safety supplies, and preserve water stored by the state and federal projects for future needs.”
1914 is a key year
The lawsuits said the state board cannot curtail water rights secured before 1914, when the current system started. Among them are the Tuolumne supply for MID and TID and the Stanislaus water used by OID and SSJID.
These four districts said they have enough stored water for the current irrigation season, which will run to mid-autumn. But they worry that the state orders could remain even if storms start to rebuild the supply.
“It’s really about next irrigation season,” OID General Manager Steve Knell said in a news release. “We want to put ourselves in the best position so that whatever rain comes, we can capture it, store it and make it available.”
OID and its co-plaintiffs sued as the San Joaquin Tributaries Authority. They irrigate about 325,000 acres of farmland, and MID and SSJID also treat river water for cities. About 2.7 million Bay Area residents get at least some of their water from San Francisco’s system on the Tuolumne.
The authority filed its suit in Fresno Superior Court, citing the fact that the state attorney general has a branch office in that county. The filing is on top of the appeals that the districts will pursue through the state board’s administrative process.
TID and MID said in a joint email that they “are committed to taking all legal steps necessary to challenge the State Water Board’s regulation authorizing the issuance of curtailment orders, and the individual curtailment orders themselves.”
Worries on West Side
The West Side districts sued in Sacramento Superior Court. They noted that farmers grow annual crops such as tomatoes and dairy feed, which can go fallow during a drought, along with fruit and nut trees.
“The failure to irrigate a permanent crop, such as walnuts, almonds or apricots, will cause not only loss of that year’s crop, but also death of the orchard,” the suit said. “Fruit and nut orchards are 20- to 40-year investments that are increasingly more expensive to install.”
The three districts irrigate a total of about 49,000 acres from Tracy to Patterson. They mostly use the San Joaquin River, but West Stanislaus also has rights to the lower Tuolumne.
All three districts have contracts for additional water from the federal Central Valley Project, but it is delivering nothing this year to most districts.
Four nearby districts serving about 225,000 acres are getting 75% of their federal water thanks to San Joaquin rights that predated the CVP’s construction.
They are the Central California Irrigation District, the San Luis Canal Co., the Firebaugh Canal Water District and the Columbia Canal Co.
The Merced district irrigates about 132,000 acres from McClure Reservoir on the Merced River.
“While there is little question about the current dry conditions in California, there is plenty questionable about how the State Water Board has gone about carrying out its response,” General Manager John Sweigard said in a news release.
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 6:12 AM.
