MID board moves toward hike in farm water rates. Should city folks help with cost?
The Modesto Irrigation District board voted Tuesday to launch the process for an increase in farm water rates. But directors also suggested that city residents pitch in.
The rate hike would help MID maintain the canals that distribute Tuolumne River water to about 58,000 farmland acres from spring to fall. A typical grower would pay 14% more based on the ample supply forecast for 2023.
Board members noted that the canals also carry runoff from storm drains in the city of Modesto during the off-season. Just last month, they helped ease street flooding from three weeks of rain.
The city does not pay for the drainage, despite discussions in recent years about doing so. An agreement finally could be close, MID General Manager Ed Franciosa said.
The canal cost could be added to fees that Modesto residents already pay for general upkeep of the storm drain system. They appear on bills that also list water, sewer and trash charges.
The MID board voted 4-0, with director Larry Byrd absent, to mail out notices of the farm rate increase to the 3,100 or so customers this week. Under state law, the proposal would die if a majority files protests at or before an April 11 hearing.
The law allows the board to increase rates by less than the advertised amount, so it could be adjusted if the city agrees to help pay for canal maintenance.
The farm rate also would apply to the river water feeding a treatment plant that supplements Modesto’s domestic wells. This is only part of the city water bills, which also cover pipeline maintenance and other costs.
The farm water proposal comes three months after MID raised electricity rates by nearly 10% over two years. That happened amid long-running controversy over whether power customers were unfairly subsidizing farmers. Both of the rate proposals were based on a consultant’s report that sought to better assign costs to the power and water sides.
Still among the cheapest
The increase in MID farm rates still would leave the district among the lowest-cost suppliers in the San Joaquin Valley.
The rate structure has two parts: a flat fee per acre to cover general maintenance, and prices based on actual water used. The latter is by acre-foot, which is enough water to cover an acre a foot deep.
The proposal would raise MID’s flat fee from $44 to $53 per acre while leaving the volume charges the same. They now are $2 per acre-foot for the first two, $5 for the third acre-foot, $11.25 for the next half an acre-foot, and $40 per acre-foot beyond that. The tiers are designed to encourage conservation.
The wet winter likely will mean an allotment of at least 3.5 acre-feet per acre in 2023, close to normal following drought cutbacks the past two years. That amount of water would cost $73.25 under the staff proposal.
MID and several nearby suppliers have lower rates thanks mainly to strong river rights and access to stored water. They include the Turlock, Oakdale, South San Joaquin and Central California irrigation districts.
Many suppliers in the Valley’s western and southern reaches pay much more for water. The rate is $288.06 per acre-foot in the largest, the Westlands Water District near Fresno.
MID Director Robert Frobose, a farmer, supported starting the rate increase process but remains skeptical. “Costs for farmers go up,” he said. “Guess what happens? The price of food goes up.”
The storm runoff charge drew support from attorney Stacy Henderson, who often speaks on behalf of farmers to the MID board. She said it would have raised $1.2 million to $1.7 million a year based on a tentative 2017 agreement that the city did not accept. That would have covered the $800,000 annual shortfall cited by the district staff in seeking the farm water increase, she said.
Storm water out to sea
Much of last month’s runoff flowed through irrigation canals to lower river stretches, then on out to the Pacific Ocean. MID Director Janice Keating suggested projects that inject some of the surplus into local groundwater.
MID managers have been discussing the storm drainage issue with William Wong, director of utilities for the city. He commented in a Tuesday afternoon email to The Modesto Bee that also touched on recharge:
“We will continue to dialogue with MID to discuss the overall long-term viability of the discharge of storm water in canals. The city is also discussing how to capture storm water to recharge our aquifers as partners in the Stanislaus & Tuolumne Rivers Groundwater Basin Association. “
MID took part in a 2016 study where storm runoff was diverted to an almond orchard, briefly putting several inches of water on the ground without harming the crop. TID is in the midst of its own pilot project, including an almond farm near Keyes that drew several top state officials last month.
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 7:12 PM.
