AgWA communicates with state agencies before release of 2023 water regs

Today, the State Water Board (SWB) is due to release its draft “emergency” regulations for the Scott and Shasta watersheds for next year. Scott Valley AgWA has been communicating with SWB and the Calif. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in hopes that shared facts will educate the next round of regulations. We provided written and oral comments over the past two weeks, and met with CDFW staff last week. CDFW had recommended that the “inefficient livestock watering” prohibition be extended (now it would last from Sept 1 to March 31, rather than Jan. 31).

Since SWB has proposed re-adopting the current regs (with adjustments), our comments were largely based on this year’s regulations. We also addressed CDFW’s recommended change. Here’s what we focused on (please read the full comments for details!):

• Existing language implies that next year’s Local Cooperative Solutions (LCS) will ratchet down water use an additional 30% (the language calls for “a net reduction of water use of 30 percent…as compared to the prior irrigation season.”) We emphasized in our comments to the agencies that a language change would be necessary in order to keep 2020/2021 as the baseline, rather than forcing an additional 30% reduction every year. (This language could be unintentional; we hope for clarification in the draft.)

• Our members have indicated that even the 30% water use reduction is not sustainable over multiple drought years for their operations.

• The 30% reduction will not lead to better salmon spawning production without adequate fall rains.

• CA Dept. of Water Resources data shows that roughly half of Scott Valley’s irrigated acreage is surface-water irrigated, which means that this acreage will not qualify for LCS. These lands, primarily pasture, will therefore be 100-percent curtailed when flows dip below the mandated levels this summer. This 100% curtailment further exacerbates the feed shortage faced by livestock producers in Scott Valley.

• We noted that CDFW’s recommendation to extend the “Inefficient livestock watering” prohibition through March 31 would leave ditches empty two months longer than they were last winter. This extension will exacerbate the problems that accompany dry ditches, including:

  • Ditch damage due to rodents; cracking; tunnels created by the rotting roots of trees that succumb to drought; and in- channel vegetation growth;

  • Elimination of a good source of groundwater recharge;

  • Threat to animal (livestock and wildlife) health and welfare;

  • Replacing earthen ditches with pipes or lined ditches would be expensive and time-consuming.

• We explained the cow/calf business in Scott Valley, and how difficult it is to rebuild a herd if a ranch is forced to downsize. Water unavailability (both natural and artificially imposed) adds to feed scarcity—adding even more to the skyrocketing costs that threaten to eliminate Scott Valley’s cattle ranching families.

• If left in place for the duration of the drought, these regulations will result in loss of many of our farms and ranches and therefore loss of open spaces and important wildlife habitat. The economic hardship will extend beyond our farming and ranching families to every part of our community.

• Meanwhile, Scott Valley’s coho population is on a positive trend. The existing and proposed regulations seem to ignore this fact, and the decades of locally-driven efforts that have helped coho, Chinook, and steelhead in the Scott River watershed.

• A “voluntary” approach was never offered to Scott Valley landowners, despite direction from Gov. Newsom’s emergency order to do so. Other watersheds are benefitting from a voluntary/cooperative approach. Here, landowners are being required to forego their water rights—even the most senior ones—with no offer of compensation. Take a look at this Comparison Chart we’ve prepared, which shows just how harshly Scott Valley is being treated compared to several other major basins in the state.

Time to Act: This regulatory process is being fast-tracked due to the continuing “emergency” drought status. We hope that all Scott Valley farmers and ranchers will comment to SWB, letting them know how much these regulations will affect their operations directly. Please feel free to borrow from our comments, and share them widely. Send comments to ScottShastaDrought@waterboards.ca.gov as soon as possible, preferably by the May 25th public comment meeting. We encourage oral comments at that zoom meeting. The final regs are due the week of June 6, so your written comments should not be later than June 1!