Oakdale Irrigation District delays decision on Trinitas water flap

A dispute over longtime irrigators being forced to share water with recently annexed almond barons was not resolved Tuesday because protesters had not submitted their petition.

Petitioners, accusing Oakdale Irrigation District officials of dishonesty, were upset that the issue remains in limbo. Established customers could get an extra 11/4 inches of water if the OID board were to reconsider its April 21 vote giving newcomers a third of the amount going to longtime customers. “We have to make decisions on crops right now,” said Robert Frobose, who is spearheading the petition.

Frobose’s supporters say district officials bought their silence two years ago, when Trinitas Farming was annexed into OID, by promising that the nut giant would get no water in a dry year unless existing customers first got a full allotment. Instead, the board last month capped allotments for established customers and agreed to provide Trinitas and another so-called Tier 2 customer a third of a regular water share.

Frobose said the “bait and switch” strategy shifts the burden of pumping groundwater from Trinitas to longtime customers, who will be forced to augment this year’s historic Stanislaus River allotment of 36 inches per parcel.

“A lot of us feel like our trust has been violated,” Frobose said. “We were told one thing and you’re not following it.”

OID Chairman Steve Webb said the board will duly consider the petition once it’s submitted.

Board member Frank Clark agreed that the Trinitas annexation was sold on the understanding of getting no water in dry years. But its actual contract with OID gives board members some wiggle room.

After the meeting, Clark told The Modesto Bee he does not favor a change that might force Trinitas to pump more groundwater because that could endanger neighbors’ shallower domestic wells owned by his constituents.

The Tier 2 category, comprised of Trinitas’ 7,234 acres and another company’s 812 acres, could grow in a few months as a three-year process of absorbing new land winds toward a final vote.

The board on Tuesday held a public hearing on adding five farmland parcels measuring 739 acres, whose owners have agreed to pay annexation fees of $2,600 per acre. They’ve also agreed to pay $55 per acre-foot for water, while established Tier 1 customers pay $27; both tiers also are paying a $6.10-per-acre drought surcharge this year. Proposed terms also require proof that newcomers are capable of pumping groundwater to meet all their needs, in case the board decides to give them none in drought years – the same language that guided the Trinitas annexation in 2013.

Another group of nine parcels measuring 330 acres, whose owners have some property inside the district and are already receiving water, would move straight to Tier 1 upon paying the same annexation fee, if approved. About 52,000 acres are in Tier 1.

Annexation comments are due at the district office by May 31, followed by a board vote in June. OID then would prepare environmental documents and seek annexation approval from the Stanislaus Local Agency Formation Commission. Barring delays, it could be done by October.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Oakdale Irrigation District delays decision on Trinitas water flap."