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FRESNO COUNTY'S
PROPOSED GROUNDWATER ORDINANCE

May 2000

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors will be asked in the next few months to consider a groundwater ordinance proposed by County of Fresno staff. The ordinance is intended to provide a process for County review and approval of certain surface water transfers and related transactions that may impact groundwater resources.

Good management and protection of the Valley’s limited groundwater resource is important to the current and long-term economical and social well-being of the region. Each water district within the County has developed groundwater management plans approved by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, CA Department of Water Resources and the County of Fresno. In most areas, groundwater is used conjunctively with surface supplies to prevent excessive overdraft of the underground aquifer and to provide a sustainable water supply to benefit landowners throughout the County.

Historically, the County has passively supported water district activities that ultimately add to the overall surface water supplies for the County. In fact, the County has supported a recent transaction between Westlands, Mercy Springs Water District, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which has resulted in surface water supplies being exported from the County for dry-year protection to Santa Clara Valley Water District in exchange for dollars and surplus supplies to Westlands Water District. However, the County recently became concerned with proposals by two small west side water districts that have explored the possibility of selling their federal water entitlement to agencies outside the basin. The proposed groundwater ordinance was created as a means of protecting surface and groundwater supplies in the County.

As drafted, the ordinance requires a permit from the County for certain groundwater activities, as well as surface water activities such as transfers, exchanges and water banking. Westlands staff and other water district representatives have been working with County staff to modify the original language to make it supportive of local water district resource management responsibilities. The ordinance has been modified to exempt activities such as the historical transfer of water within local water agency boundaries, short-term water transfers, exchanges, and banking programs that result in a net increase to groundwater levels. However, Westlands officials still are concerned with the possible implications a countywide groundwater ordinance could have on farmers and urban agency efforts to more effectively manage groundwater and surface water resources available to Fresno County.

As a water district that relies heavily on water transfers and exchanges both in and out of Fresno County, Westlands is concerned the County’s ordinance and it will negatively impact on water markets and will create an added bureaucracy in the approval process. districts’ Westlands, as well as many west side districts, relies on water transfer markets to supplement its uncertain Central Valley Project water entitlement. These districts need to conduct their transactions in a timely manner; additional permitting could restrict the market and delay transactions to the determent of seasonal irrigation for the County’s number one industry, agriculture. Moreover, the County is and will always be a net importer of water to sustain the County’s impressive $3.5-billion farm production.

Under the proposed ordinance, current activities that will require a permit include:

a. Multi-year transfer by a landowner who owns property in more than one county, if additional groundwater is pumped;

b. Banking program with imported supplies that are tied to a dry-year payback obligation;

c. Groundwater transfer that may include surface payback (CIP).

Westlands seriously questions the need for a Fresno County groundwater ordinance as drafted, which goes far beyond protection of groundwater resources. The County does have a responsibility to protect groundwater resources, but the order should be limited to a general requirement having a negative, long-term affect on groundwater resources. The attempt to link more surface water transactions to groundwater unnecessarily adds to the bureaucracy on water markets and will negatively affect water users throughout Fresno County.

Major Considerations:

Groundwater management is best done at the local level. This was the premise behind then-Assemblyman Jim Costa’s legislation, AB-3030, which became the vehicle to allow water districts to prepare their own groundwater management programs for their service areas and region. This effort was an attempt to ward-off State and/or federal control of the groundwater basin. What role does a countywide groundwater ordinance play in relationship to the 20-plus existing groundwater management plans in Fresno County? Which takes precedence – the County ordinance or the District’s plan? The County has expressed concern that districts would not abide by or enforce the AB-3030 plan, which has been adopted by the County. However, AB-3030 provides for the County to intercede in a district’s plan should activities be inconsistent with a district or County plan.

Water districts already operate under a closely scrutinized umbrella of state and federal laws governing what can and can’t be done with groundwater, thereby protecting private property owners’ rights. The agencies that currently review proposed transfers include the State Water Resources Control Board, CA Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Likewise, transfers are subject to CA Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) guidelines and review, when required. Water transfer issues of concern to the County – like economic impacts from a change in water use and environmental impacts to groundwater levels and overdraft of the aquifer – would be fully addressed through the NEPA/CEQA process. Another level of government – as proposed through this ordinance — creates more bureaucracy and raises even more uncertainty to successfully complete transfers in a timely manner.

Water transfers are a way of life for farmers on the west side of Fresno County. During the last 10 years, Westlands and its farmers have transferred into the County over 1.5-million acre-feet of surface water to supplement an uncertain Central Valley Project contract supply. Westlands has received a full CVP contract entitlement of 1.15-million acre-feet in only two of the last 10 years. As result, individual farmers, water brokers and west side districts have developed a network of moving water into the Ccounty. If this surface water were not available, farmers would have had to rely heavily on pumped groundwater, thereby adding to the basin’s overdraft of the underground aquifer. An effective conjunctive use program – using surface water to replenish the aquifer and/or reduce demand on groundwater supplies – is dependent on the ability to move water across county borders.

A county ordinance sends the message that Fresno County does not welcome water transfers and is not willing to partner with other regions on water transactions. If Fresno County has an ordinance that ultimately prevents water from leaving County borders, other counties that already willingly export water to water districts and individuals may reconsider. Year-in and year-out, Fresno County is a net importer of water, with over 1-million acre-feet coming into Westlands alone. At a time when we need to be progressive in creating a stronger economy for the Valley, shutting off the tap that fuels the Valley’s number one industry is a backwards move.

Without question, the long-term solution to State and Valley water problems is the development of new storage – both surface and underground – and conveyance facilities. Unfortunately, new storage or conveyance facilities are several years off, given today’s environmental and political climate. Until storage becomes a reality, water districts/agencies will rely even more on water transfers (including groundwater transfers) to meet agriculture’s existing demand and the water demand for a growing Valley. The Valley’s future depends on an adequate water supply, and water transfers are a necessary component of meeting that need. We can no longer afford the provincial way of thinking about our water supplies. As we have seen by Westlands’ experience in the transfer market, water transfers can be done in a win-win manner that benefits the County as a whole, by lessening the need for pumped groundwater and for sustaining agricultural production on over 565,000 acres that exceeds $1-billion of Fresno County’s $3.5-billion gross farm value.