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CSPA Objects to North San Joaquin Temporary Urgency Petition

August 18, 2009 - CSPA filed an objection Monday with the State Water Resources Control Board to a Temporary Urgency Change petition filed by the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District. The petition seeks to take one thousand acre-feet of water from Camanche Reservoir and inject it into the ground.
 
San Joaquin County pumps on average about 800,000 acre-feet of water out of the ground, but only about 600,000 acre-feet on average replenish the County’s groundwater. Several San Joaquin County water interests have tried for decades to gain control of sufficient surface water to make up the difference. The most well-known effort of this nature was the County’s attempt to gain water from Auburn Dam. CSPA was instrumental in persuading the State Board to revoke Auburn Dam water rights last year.
 
While the present petition is far more modest, it suffers from the same misguided approach. The County needs to get serious about controlling its demand for water. Putting surface water into the ground so that it can be pumped out faster than it goes in is a waste of water.
 
CSPA protested North San Joaquin’s petition in June of this year to permanently modify a water rights permit so that North San Joaquin can put 17,000 acre-feet a year of water stored in Camanche into the ground. The grounds for protest were largely the same as the reasons for filing today’s objection: waste and unreasonable use of water and unreasonable method of diversion. The overriding issue, again, is the utter failure of the District to make an effort to live within its means when it comes to water.
 
CSPA's Protest