MID will sell excess river water to farmers who rely on wells. Price is more than expected
The Modesto Irrigation District has approved a plan to sell excess Tuolumne River water to farmers just outside its boundaries who rely on wells.
The board voted 5-0 on Tuesday to charge $200 per acre-foot for this water, more than double an earlier proposal.
The supply will allow these farmers to reduce groundwater pumping as part of a state mandate for sustainable aquifers. It is expected to be available in seven out of the 20 years in the contracts.
MID has been selling excess water via board votes based on a single year’s conditions. It happened this year as well as in 2019 and 2017.
Tuesday’s vote allows farmers to make long-term investments in pipes and other devices for tapping MID canals.
“Groundwater is one of our treasures in this community,” Director Robert Frobose said, “and we need to protect it for our next generations.”
The staff estimated that up to 15,000 acres could get the water each year. MID’s core service area is about 58,000 acres.
The Main Canal diverts the Tuolumne near La Grange, but most of the district lies well to the west. This bypassed zone has an aquifer long stressed by farm pumps.
The program allows out-of-district sales in years defined as wet or above normal. They will not happen when conditions are average or worse.
Initially proposed price drew criticism
The board had earlier discussed charging $80 for the first acre-foot and $60 for each of the next three. An acre-foot is enough water to cover one acre a foot deep. Typical crops need three to four acre-feet over a growing season.
Critics said the price was too low. Many cited the adjacent Oakdale Irrigation District, which charges $200 for an acre-foot of excess water from the Stanislaus River. It has been available in nine out of 10 years, much more often than MID’s plan.
Frobose made the motion to bump the price to $200 and got unanimous support.
The vote was 3-2 to approve the overall program. Directors John Boer and Janice Keating favored postponing the matter to the next meeting so other details could be fleshed out. Those details include the contract duration and whether some excess water should be held back to later in each irrigation season.
California contends with massive flows
Groundwater recharge has been much discussed as California deals with this year’s massive runoff. It also is being done in restored river floodplains and in artificial percolation ponds.
Even with all of that, the Tuolumne and other rivers carried plenty of water out to the Pacific Ocean. This was noted at the MID meeting by Julia Stornetta, general manager of the much smaller Stanislaus Mutual Water Co.
“This is water that is not being used right now,” she said. “... It is going out toward the Golden Gate Bridge and into the ocean right now.”
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 8:26 AM.
