Darren Rice, who farms north of Chico, checks the moisture of almond trees after last week’s rain. He joined area farmers in organizing the pro- posed local Tuscan Water District.
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plans to achieve long-termsustainability. The purpose is to avoid undesirable re- sults, such as diminishing groundwater levels, reduction of storage, seawater in- trusion, degradedquality, landsubsidence and surface-water depletion. With the area north of Chico in Butte County unserved by a water district, Rice joinedother farmers five years ago to start the process of forming a water district to helpmanage groundwater sustainability. ButteCountyofficials supported theeffort. After yearsofwork, numerousmeetings and outreach and approval of a majority of landowners, they formed the proposed TuscanWater District. The district covers more than 100,000 acres, including farm- land largely consisting of tree crops. Despite some opposition, the district’s formation was unanimously approved in FebruarybytheButteCountyLocalAgency Formation Commission. District propo- nentshaveafinalhurdleofaskinglandown- ers to ratify theLAFCOvote later this year. “There are more than 300 water dis- tricts in California. This is the first time in 30-plus years that a water district has been formed inButte County,” said Tovey Giezentanner, spokesman for the pro- posedTuscanWaterDistrict. “It will allow this group of landowners to benefit from the economy of scale of essentially band- ing together to pursue projects.” Theproposedservicearea,Giezentanner said, lacks awater purveyor that would be abletoworkwithButteCountyandthearea Vina Groundwater Sustainability Agency toplan formaintaining aquifer supplies. “With no district in place to help the subbasin achieve sustainability and work in concert with the county and GSAs to develop a plan for the unserved areas, the (TuscanWater) District will fill that void,” Giezentanner said. “If the district is not formed,itbecomesthecounty’sandtheVina GSA’s responsibility tosolve theproblem.” Giezentanner said forming the district offers farmers with representation in the local SGMA process. He said the district plans to identify sourcesofwater, recharge opportunities and ways to incentivize farmers for water conservation efforts. The area’s groundwater sustainability plan identified a groundwater deficit of 10,000 acre-feet annually, so the subbasin is going to, either through conservation, recharge or new supply, replace 10,000 acre-feet of water, he said.
“They are either going to put more water in the ground to recharge, stop using as much water through demand conservation or bring new water in,” Giezentanner said. Tuscan Water District proponents agreedthat thedistrictwouldnot sellwater out of the area and ensured that projects pursuedareconsistentwiththegoals iden- tifiedinthe local groundwater sustainabili- typlan. “Wearegoing tomakesure thatour projectsareconsistentwithwhere theGSA wants to go,” Giezentanner said. Rich McGowan, who farms nut crops andprunesnorthofChico, is among those helping to form the water district. He said the Vina Groundwater Sustainability Agency’s groundwater sustainability plan “recognizes opportunities that will help with sustainability.” “Opportunities range frombringing in surface water to conservation to recharge and all of the above,” McGowan said. “We’re going toworkwith the local GSA to implement whatever solutions are afford- able and reasonable for the grower base.” Recognizing that water is a finite re- source, McGowan said, he and the fellow farmerswhoproposed thenewdistrict felt they needed to take action to preserve the resource for the next generations. McGowan said his “heart goes out to” future-generation farmers suchashisown children, given the challenges ahead, in- cludingwater, labor and regulations. McGowan said he and his fellow farm- ers areworking togive thenext generation “not only the sameopportunity, but (also) the tools to be successful.” CaliforniaFarmBureauPresident Jamie Johansson, who farms inOroville outside of the district boundaries, said by forming TuscanWaterDistrict, farmerswill beable toretainmore localwater throughground- water recharge and other projects. “The farmers are demonstrating that water conservation isn’t just on our mind during a drought and that, when the drought is over, they will be looking at in- creasing storage both above and under- ground in years that water is plentiful,” Johanssonsaid. “It’sacostlyendeavor, and because farm families stepped up and in- vested in this district, the generations after themwill benefit.” (Chr i s t ine Souza i s an ass i s tant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
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