YCWA, Cordua exchange settlement checks
$675K goes to irrigation district over 2015 transfer request lawsuit
With the exchange of settlement checks – one for $675,000 and the other for $60,000 – the Yuba County Water Agency and the Cordua Irrigation District resolved three lawsuits and disputes on Thursday that had been outstanding since 2015.
“Just as important as resolving old disputes, this settlement agreement provides a foundation for future cooperation and collaboration between YCWA and Cordua,” Brent Hastey, chairman of the YCWA board, said in a press release.
The legal disputes started in 2015 when Cordua filed a lawsuit against YCWA seeking $4.5 million, claiming the agency refused a groundwater substitution request (when surface water is sold and water is pumped from groundwater aquifers to substitute for it). The district wanted to sell the surface water to the state and pump 5,000 acrefeet of groundwater to replace it, but the agency said the request did not comply with its groundwater management policy.
YCWA paid Cordua $675,000 to resolve the 2015 transfer request lawsuit.
The second legal dispute resolved on Thursday involved a lawsuit filed by YCWA in 2016 against Cordua for a longterm groundwater substitution transfer that was proposed by the irrigation district. Cordua’s board approved a California Environmental Quality Act addendum for the transfer during a meeting, but the agency alleged
the district failed to conduct proper environmental reviews and a plan to monitor the transfer’s impact on the county groundwater supply. The agency also alleged Cordua committed a an open meetings law violation when its board approved the review document at a special meeting without posting the meeting 24 hours in advance.
The last dispute resolved in the settlement had to do with money the agency felt Cordua owed it for water that was delivered in 2016 when the irrigation district was not under contract with YCWA. The agency has member units that pay for water deliveries out of the Yuba River.
Cordua paid YCWA $60,000 to resolve the 2016 dispute over water delivered.
“When water is involved, there are always situations where disagreements arise, but the professional courtesy exhibited by both sides moved what was a disagreement into a better understanding of the value of a long-term relationship going forward,” said Charley Mathews Jr., a Cordua board member, in a press release.
The agency said the procedures specified in the settlement will “expedite YCWA’S approval of Cordua’s 2018 water transfer program, resulting in significant Cordua efficiencies and cost savings, while maintaining measures to avoid adverse impacts to other water users,” in a press release.
Our poll at www.appealdemocrat.com asks: What do you think should be done with daylight saving time? Your choices are:
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Let’s put it to a vote in California.