The Abridged version:
- Yolo County officials have reached a settlement with the California Department of Water Resources over the water rights for a large farm near Knights Landing.
- The deal comes after Yolo County and the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Agency sued to slow down the state department’s purchase of up to 16,000 acre-feet of Sacramento River surface water.
- Reclamation District 108 will now own and operate the property, adhering to stringent groundwater regulation.
Yolo County officials have ironed out an agreement on the future of Fair Ranch’s water rights, settling multiple lawsuits filed over access to Sacramento River water.
The California Department of Water Resources in February determined its purchase of the 7,500-acre property’s share of Sacramento River water would have little impact on the environment and was therefore exempt from environmental review. But the $180 million deal set off alarms in Yolo County as officials worried about its effect on local groundwater supplies in and around Knights Landing.
Now, the state water department has changed its plans.
Ownership of the property will transfer to Reclamation District 108, which will operate the farm moving forward, according to a memorandum of understanding approved Tuesday by Yolo County supervisors.
As part of that agreement, the district will comply with stringent groundwater regulations while continuing to farm the land.
Exempt from environmental review?
The state agency planned to buy the farm’s rights to up to 16,000 acre-feet of Sacramento River surface water as part of its Instream Flow Water Purchase Program. The program is part of a state initiative to keep river flows high to benefit fish and the ecosystem.
But in two separate lawsuits filed in March, Yolo County and the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Agency alleged that the department inappropriately skirted environmental impact review by declaring the purchase exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act.
In their complaints, the county and groundwater agency pointed to the possibility that Fair Ranch, which is owned by River Garden Farms, would substitute its recently sold surface water with groundwater.
“Such a significant, and permanent, transfer with an annual minimum transfer guarantee will unavoidably impact local groundwater levels,” the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater lawsuit reads.
Groundwater regulation
According to the county’s lawsuit, the Zamora-Knights Landing corridor has experienced several feet of subsidence, or shifting ground due to shrinking aquifers, in the last half-century.
Worries about the struggling groundwater aquifer in the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater have prompted officials to regulate depletion cautiously.
Last year, Yolo County supervisors implemented a new well moratorium, a move they have since extended.
The Yolo Subbasin Groundwater board of directors approved the Fair Ranch settlement unanimously last week, and county staff indicated in their report that it “does much to protect the interests of the county and YSGA.”
Daniel Hennessy joins Abridged from the California Local News Fellowship. He’s a reporter covering Yolo County.