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Farmers to Slake Suburban Thirst?

A small agricultural irrigation district is making plans to sell enough water to serve the next 80,000-100,000 homes in San Joaquin County.

The South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) currently diverts about 225,000 acre-feet of water each year from the Stanislaus River to farmers within a 70,000-acre area around Escalon, Ripon and Manteca. Now, the district wants to sell 50,000 acre-feet of its surface water allotment to the growing cities of Lathrop, Manteca, Tracy and Escalon. Manteca and Escalon are located within the water district boundaries, but Tracy and Lathrop are not.

In addition to the 50,000 acre-feet of water that SSJID wants to sell to the four cities, the district has teamed up with the other major water diverter along the Stanislaus River, the Oakdale Irrigation District, to sell an additional 30,000 acre-feet to the Stockton East Water District, which serves some of the Stockton metro area. Farmers and environmentalists question whether there is enough water in the Stanislaus to sell to the cities without putting existing agricultural operations and the environment at risk during drought years.

Not to worry, say the general managers for the two districts, they have plenty of "excess" water to sell. When the New Melones Dam was built in the early 1970's, the two irrigation districts negotiated a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BurRec) for 600,000 acre-feet of Stanislaus River water. The two districts now use an average of about 500,000 acre-feet or less during normal years, although the amount varies from year to year.

SSJID manager Rick Martin estimates there would be enough water during eight years out of ten, but during drought some parties would have to be cut back. However, history has shown that when urban toilets and swimming pools are competing with farmers and fish for water during drought years it's usually the latter who lose.

The most outspoken critics of the planned water transfers are those who stand the most to lose during drought years: farmers like Alex Hildebrand in Manteca who depend on riparian water rights along the lower portion of the San Joaquin River, downstream of the Stanislaus. Riparian water users claim that there is no "excess" water from the Stanislaus to transfer to suburban growth and that sale of that much water out of the district will adversely affect downstream farmers who rely in part on "return" flows (water from irrigated lands that flows back into the river system and recharges groundwater). Hildebrand and the South Delta Water Agency have already threatened lawsuits to stop the water sales.

The irrigation districts seem to believe that if they don't use their excess water (by selling it), they will "lose it" by letting it flow into the Delta, where the federal government will pump it to Southern California cities. The districts also believe that the Feds will claim any unused water to release higher flows down the Stanislaus and San Joaquin Rivers to help fish migration.

This "use it or lose it" water philosophy has been embraced by pro-growth city officials and developers who need the surface water to fuel an explosion of planned suburban development in San Joaquin County over the next twenty years. Hugely speculative projects like the 11,000-home Califia/Gold Rush City project in Lathrop cannot be built without a surface water supply. In Tracy, the city wants to quadruple its population by building 45,000 homes and desperately wants the SSJID water instead of having to rely on negotiating new contracts with BurRec for more Delta water. Similar large-scale transfers of water from agricultural irrigation to suburban water districts to serve new growth are being discussed in the adjacent counties. In Stanislaus County, for example, the Turlock Irrigation District is proposing to sell 11,000 acre-feet of water to the Diablo Grande "new town" project being built in the arid hills south of Tracy. Diablo Grande is designed as a high-end golf and residential project, with 5,000 homes and six golf courses.

In San Joaquin County, SSJID is now preparing two separate environmental impact reports to study the effects of their proposed 80,000 acre-feet of water transfers to Stockton and the four cities. After the EIRs are released later this summer, the agency will hold public hearings. Coincidentally, CALFED recently unveiled its long-awaited blueprints and EIR for improving water supply reliability, repairing levees and restoring the Delta ecosystem. It seems likely the SSJID will approve the water transfers before CALFED makes a final decision about how water may be reallocated to accomplish a far different common good than suburban bliss in the valley.

Contact: Rick Martin (209)823-3101 or Eric Parfrey (510)420-8686

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