AgWA comments at May 4 State Water Board public meeting
Scott Valley Agriculture Water Alliance participated in a zoom meeting hosted by the State Water Resources Control Board on May 4. We shared vital information as the Board considers re-adopting the current “emergency” drought regulations, with some amendments, for next year. Click here to see the recorded meeting. Theo Johnson and Lauren Sweezey spoke on behalf of AgWA, and several other AgWA members spoke as well. Key points included:
The Board’s handling of our water rights in this “emergency” situation poses an existential threat to our community, where multi-generational family farms and ranches are the fabric of our community, heritage and culture.
Continuing the curtailments and the current mandated flow levels in the Scott River is unfair and unnecessary. Our aquifer is stable here, and our coho, Chinook, and steelhead populations are healthy as well.
The current regulations are unsustainable for many of us, even when considering the 30% reduction plan option. Not many can survive at 70% production levels.
Furthermore, the current regs being considered for re-adoption require a 30% reduction from the “previous year.” That potentially means an additional 30% reduction in water use next year – unless the SWB clarifies it’s not asking for that. A 60% reduction will not be possible for farmers and ranchers to achieve, if they are to stay in business. 2020/2021 must remain the baseline for 30% reduction plans.
About half of Scott Valley’s irrigated acreage is not covered by the 30% plan option, which means at least 50% of the valley’s farm land could go fallow this summer, as soon as curtailments kick in. This percentage is higher than anywhere else in California. Much of this affected land is pasture ground that is only surface-irrigated. This loss of forage will be particularly devastating for our cow/calf producers.
Currently, the regs prohibit “inefficient livestock watering” (that is, using earthen, “leaky”, ditches) during periods of curtailment (when river flows dip below the mandated minimum levels) and also from Sept. 1 to Jan. 31. This limitation makes watering our livestock (beef cattle, dairy cattle, and sheep) extremely difficult in some places, and it also does away with the valuable aquifer recharge that those ditches provide. The Water Board is considering extending the prohibition to March 31 to “protect salmon redds.” This will be even more detrimental to aquifer recharge in the winter, and the State has not provided evidence as to whether or where salmon redds would actually benefit from this extension.
As pointed out in the meeting by both Jim Morris and Warren Farnam, aquifer recharge is a positive result of current ditch use, and a project is already planned to augment winter groundwater recharge on the eastside via the Scott Valley Irrigation District ditch. Such recharge projects should be strongly supported by the State agencies, which should provide expedited permitting and flexible operations.
It should be noted that, unlike in other parts of California, our farmers and ranchers are not being offered compensation for the taking of their water.
The State Water Board is accepting written comments at any time. Please email comments to ScottShastaDrought@waterboards.ca.gov. Early comments are more likely to influence the wording in the draft regulations. Dates to keep in mind:
May 16 - SWB to release draft “re-adoption” regs
May 25 - SWB to host another public zoom meeting
June 6 (or week of) - SWB to release final draft of regs
June 21 - SWB to vote on “re-adoption” regs
AgWA will be submitting written comments next week, which we will post on the Blog. Feel free to use them to form your own comments. We appreciate your support, and encourage you to comment on the personal impacts of these regs.
