money Farmers shoot holes in Modesto Irrigation plan for selling water to outsiders | Opinion
Observations from a recent gathering of 70 growers from the west end of Stanislaus County in a barn near Modesto:
No one who spoke up favored the Modesto Irrigation District’s lousy idea to sell surface water to a handful of out-of-district nut growers in east Stanislaus County at a ridiculously low price.
Many questioned the relationship between MID Board President Larry Byrd and prospective buyers, some of whom apparently are his east-end neighbors and business partners.
Several scoffed at the name chosen for the proposal — Groundwater Replenishment Plan — saying there is no way 60,000 acre-feet applied with modern irrigating techniques, such as microspray nozzles, will seep down to recharge an aquifer in danger of depletion.
The district’s previous intent to hold an Aug. 8 vote seems unlikely. Two of the five MID board members — Nick Blom and John Boer, who represent nearly everyone at this July 20 meeting in the Durrer Barn — all but promised that outcry, unanswered questions and the need to improve a draft contract will force MID to tap the brakes.
Boer committed to vote no, if a vote is forced under current terms.
Opinion
Blom said a postponement until perhaps October is likely. Raising the price first floated — $80 an acre-foot, decreasing to $60 if a buyer takes more than 12 inches — to somewhere closer to $200 an acre-foot sounds about right, Blom said.
Other agencies with a water-selling tradition (MID decidedly is not) typically charge a wheeling fee to help cover costs. MID’s draft contract contains no mention of such a charge, which should be added, some said.
A third board member, Janice Keating, observed the presentation of an attorney hired by some of these west-end growers. Keating briefly addressed the audience before excusing herself to keep the board from violating the Brown Act, an open-meetings law that prohibits a board majority from gathering without officially notifying the public. (For the record, the other two board members are Bob Frobose and Byrd.)
The attorney, Stacy Henderson, quoted Byrd as saying in a public forum that prospective buyers were already “putting in infrastructure” to accept MID water, such as pipelines, anticipating a sweetheart deal.
Even if the Groundwater Replenishment Plan does nothing to help the east-side aquifer, supplying surface water keeps growers from pumping groundwater there, Blom noted.
Some west-end farmers had little sympathy for east-end growers who paid far less for their land and who planted orchards without a guaranteed water source. “We didn’t ask them to plant trees there,” said one. “Why are we solving their problem?”
Don’t give away the store, Modesto Irrigation District
Henderson, the attorney, made reference to the July 19 column I wrote about this issue. My main point: The price must not be lower than market value.
Because prospective buyers are used to paying $200 an acre-foot for Oakdale Irrigation District water, that seems a fair starting point. That could bring MID and the growers who have supported the district lo these many years an extra $7.2 million a year.
Giving that up, as I’ve said before, amounts to a gift of public funds ranging somewhere between stupid and illegal.
Remember that Tuolumne River water is a community resource belonging to all of us. We elect MID board members to manage it, as well as to provide most of us with electricity at a fair price, and to augment drinking water in Modesto and some outlying towns. Control over these life basics — water and power — is no small thing and demands accountability.
I continue to challenge Byrd to cleanly, publicly and transparently explain all connections — business, political and otherwise — between himself and prospective east-end buyers, rather than leaving others like Blom to stick up for him when a barn full of concerned farmers openly question Byrd’s ethics.
