Yolo County water worries hit the courts as officials allege DWR skirted environmental review

The Abridged version:

• Yolo County and the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Authority filed separate lawsuits against the California Department of Water Resources.
• The suits allege that DWR inappropriately skirted the state mandated environmental review process for a $180 million water rights transfer deal.
• The plaintiffs argued that the water transfer could have significant effects on the county’s already depleted groundwater aquifers.

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Concerns about groundwater are once again bubbling to the surface in Yolo County.

Last month, the California Department of Water Resources determined that a $180 million purchase of water rights from a large farm near Knights Landing would have minimal impact on the environment and was therefore exempt from a lengthy, state mandated review process.

Local officials disagreed with that assessment.

In separate lawsuits filed in March, Yolo County and the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Agency alleged that DWR inappropriately skirted the environmental impact review required under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. According to the plaintiffs, the water transfer, which would provide DWR with the rights to up to 16,000-acre feet of Fair Ranch’s Sacramento River surface water, could put more pressure on the county’s already depleted groundwater reserves.

“Such a significant, and permanent, transfer with an annual minimum transfer guarantee will unavoidably impact local groundwater levels,” the YSGA lawsuit reads.

Ryan Endean, deputy director of communications for DWR, said that the department does not comment on pending litigation. Yolo County representatives declined to comment on this story and the YSGA did not respond to request for comment in time for publication.

Groundwater worries

The rights transfer, which is part of DWR’s Instream Flow Water Purchase Program, would allow the department to use Fair Ranch’s water allocation for the benefit of fish and the ecosystem along the Sacramento River.

“The program provides funding for projects that enhance streamflow at a time and location necessary to benefit salmon and other native species. The program supports balancing water supply needs with protecting natural aquatic resources,” Endean said.

Instead of diverting the river water for summer irrigation on the farm’s 7,500 acres, the department would hold it in reservoirs and implement instream releases from January through June to support fish and ecosystem health.

But Yolo County and YSGA are concerned about how Fair Ranch, which is owned by River Garden Farms, would then replace its substantial water needs. When reached for comment, a representative directed Abridged to DWR.

In its lawsuit, Yolo County references the project’s intent to reduce water demand by cutting crop acreage, restoring native habitat and shifting to less water-intensive crops, as well as ongoing groundwater recharge efforts. But the continued farming, even if crops take up fewer acres than they had previously, requires irrigation from somewhere.

“Increased groundwater pumping as a substitute to sustain agricultural operations in the absence of surface water is a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the transaction,” the lawsuit reads.

A countywide issue

Fair Ranch sits on the Yolo Subbasin, which has a groundwater aquifer that has struggled to rebound after decades of depletion. 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.

Local farmers have already faced the consequences of that subsidence, including a couple near Zamora who had to replace a well on their land because an underground shaft was crushed.

In recent months, countywide concerns about groundwater levels resulted in a new well moratorium imposed by the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. The move, which was extended for 10 months and 15 days in October, has spurred a broader conversation about land use and access to water in the county.

When it comes to the Fair Ranch project, the dual lawsuits are asking for a more in-depth environmental evaluation to occur before the transfer moves ahead.

Daniel Hennessy joins Abridged from the California Local News Fellowship. He’s a reporter covering Yolo County.