California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
The Oakdale Irrigation District (“OID”) and South San Joaquin Irrigation District (“SSJID”) have come to an agreement over a water transfer of up to 100,000 acre-feet to assist drought-stricken farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
According to the agreement, water would be moved as early as July 1 down the Stanislaus River and into the Delta, where it would then be pumped south in the federal Central Valley Project (“CVP”) canal for use by member agencies of the San Luis & Delta Mendota Water Authority (“Authority”). However, the proposal first has to be approved by the State Water Resources Control Board.
The Authority will pay $400 per acre-foot for the water, with OID and SSJID equally splitting the proceeds. The proposed transfer would be delivered to farmers who typically would receive water from the CVP, which did not allocate any water this year to south-of-Delta agricultural contractors because of the drought.
“OID and SSJID have conserved, stored water in New Melones Reservoir for use in times of drought,”
said OID General Manager Steve Knell. “The water is there because we’ve planned for droughts and
implemented measures to make sure that it would be there when we need it. The emergency that exists
demands extraordinary actions to mitigate the impacts of the drought emergency, and we are pleased
to be in a position to help farmers on the west side of the Valley.”
In April, rapidly changing hydrology and Delta operations caused a similar proposal to fail. Now, the
water supply picture on the Stanislaus River is much clearer, and 2021 drought Delta operations have
been approved by the Water Board adoption of Reclamation’s and DWR’s Temporary Urgency Change
Petition. The change in drought depth and breadth to south-of-Delta agricultural lands has dramatically
altered the equation for urgency to make water available for agriculture in that region.
