TID approves large water rate hike

A vote Tuesday more than doubled water rates for farmers in the Turlock Irrigation District.

The district board’s 5-0 decision, which came over objections from a few customers, still leaves TID among the lowest-cost suppliers in California.

The charge for an acre-foot in a normal or wet year will go from $8.25 to $17.50, assuming an allotment of 4 acre-feet per acre over the irrigation season. The dry-year price will rise from $15.50 to $36.50, based on 2 acre-feet. An acre-foot covers an acre a foot deep; the 2015 allotments have not been set.

District leaders said the increases were needed to cover operating costs, upgrade the canals and other assets, and protect TID’s rights to the Tuolumne River.

“Our goal is to continue to have the reliability of the district’s water resources,” said Tou Her, the assistant general manager in charge of the system.

Under state law, the increases could not have gone through if protests were received from the owners of more than half of the 8,469 affected parcels. Only 120 came in over the 45-day protest period.

About 40 farmers turned out for Tuesday’s public hearing, and several of them questioned the proposal.

“You’re asking for way too much money,” said Steve Niman, who raises cattle, corn, oats and alfalfa southwest of Turlock. He added that the increase would go to “pet projects that we don’t really need.”

The increases will boost TID’s water income from about $3 million to $6.3 million in normal or wet years. And they will allow the district to rely less on its electricity customers to pay some of the water system costs. This had been justified by the cheap hydropower from Don Pedro Reservoir.

Some of the extra money will go to a $10.9 million installation over three years of devices that more accurately measure water delivered to farms. A state law aimed at conserving the water supply has prompted TID and other districts to do this.

TID also is spending about $4.5 million this winter on canal improvements near Hilmar. One is a small reservoir to catch unexpected high flows that used to spill into the Merced River. Another will automate canal controls to better match supply to demand.

The district plans to spend $3.1 million on a water operations hub in Turlock. About $1.6 million will go to a water master plan, which will identify conservation and other projects.

The district also expects to spend money on lobbying and other work related to flows on the lower river. State and federal agencies are looking to improve conditions for fish with some of the water that now goes to farms.

Board member Michael Frantz said the increases will help TID manage its water better as it deals with competing demands from fish and a possible treatment plant augmenting the city’s groundwater supply.

“It costs money to take an old system and tighten it up so less water is wasted,” he said.

TID irrigates 145,559 acres in an area stretching from south Modesto to north Merced County and from the lower Sierra Nevada foothills to the San Joaquin River.

The district’s 98,000 power customers, including areas east and west of the irrigation service area, got a rate increase averaging 2 percent Jan. 1.

This story was originally published January 13, 2015 at 12:41 PM with the headline "TID approves large water rate hike."