Water allocations on agenda for TCCWD meeting
A public hearing about 2024’s groundwater allocations for the Cummings Basin will be held during Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Directors of Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District.
The meeting is set to begin at 3 p.m. and will be held at district headquarters, 22901 Banducci Road, Tehachapi.
The water district is the watermaster over three water basins — Tehachapi, Brite and Cummings. Water rights in the three basins were originally established through the adjudication process in the early 1970s.
Early in 2021, Kern County Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuett approved the Cummings Basin Amended and Restated Judgment and Physical Solution, which was prepared and presented by the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District.
Under new rules and regulations approved by the district board in December 2021, water pumpers in the Cummings Basin must submit groundwater allocation requests by Jan. 15.
During the public hearing, the water users or others can bring any related issues or concerns to the board.
According to a report to the board prepared by General Manager Tom Neisler, the allocation requests included in a draft report included with the board meeting agenda total 2,990.82 acre-feet — a decrease of .31 acre-feet from the allocations approved in 2023. The natural safe yield of the basin was set by the court as 2,990 acre-feet.
Neisler said the requested allocations reflected an 8.85 acre-foot increase in M&I (municipal and industrial) allocations and a 9.16 acre-foot decrease in agricultural allocations.
The largest allocation requests for Cummings Basin groundwater were from Grimmway Farms, Bear Valley Community Services District, Stallion Springs Community Services District and the California Correctional Institution.
OTHER ITEMS
Other items on the agenda for the district board’s Feb. 21 meeting are a review of 2023 operations and a request from Neisler for direction from the board for a plan for 2024 allocation of imported water.
So far, the State Water Project has not increased its initial allocation of 10% — although this could change. Last year the initial allocation was 5%, but after record-breaking storms hit California the allocation was increased to 100%.
Neisler’s recommendation to the board includes planning for operations based on 30% allocation.
He said this would mean meeting 100% of M&I current year requests and less than 80% of ag requests.
“If the 10% allocation does not increase to provide 30%, this scenario would require extraction of approximately 3,900 acre-feet of banked groundwater,” he said.
An action item to review 2023 voluntary banked water requests and determine amounts to be allocated to each request is also on the agenda.
According to the report, the city of Tehachapi requested 500 acre-feet, Golden Hills Community Services District requested 200 acre-feet and CEFF II (owner of the Cummings Valley greenhouse where Revol Greens grows lettuce), requested 400 acre-feet.
Neisler recommended that the board defer consideration on 2024 requests to the end of the year.
MORE INFORMATION
The complete agenda packet for the Feb. 21 meeting is available online at tccwd.com.