Things to consider about Tuscan Water District

The Tuscan Water District intention to import, transfer and recharge water is mentioned numerous times in their application. Though they have not revealed the projects they have in mind, their mission dovetails with longstanding DWR and USBR plans to integrate Sacramento Valley aquifers into the state water supply through conjunctive use. Numerous north state districts sold portions of their river water and are instead pumping groundwater. Clearly conjunctive-use assimilation of the aquifer is in play. The USBR has instructed water sellers that “Settlement Contractors may wish to establish historic lows on their wells and use this opportunity to establish baseline conditions of their wells for use in future transfers.” It is a shame that the VGSA is spending energy on the TWD controversy while our neighboring GSAs are avoiding transparent interbasin coordination that is necessary if we are to succeed in stabilizing our shared aquifer.

I agree with the VGSA attorney that “recharge projects may underestimate the amount of water that migrates or is lost … which could result in decreasing the amount of water available for overlying groundwater users.”

The non-controversial conservation projects that are on the VGSA list would reduce demand by 13,000 to 17,000 AFY.

We need to get to work implementing these conservation projects and to ramp up our interbasin coordination vigilance if we are to protect the future of our agricultural prowess, protect our GDEs and protect the domestic water supply of the thousands of citizens that are not members of the TWD.

— Jim Brobeck, Chico