Groups Protest Water Contract Renewals in Willows

P R E S S   R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release
Contact: Craig Tucker - 916-442-3155
Michael Jackson - 530-283-0712
John Merz  - 530-345-1865


Water Export Threat Sharpens Protest of Water Contract Extensions

Citing the threat of massive exports of water from the Sacramento Valley, numerous organizations are protesting the US Bureau of Reclamationˆs (USBR) plan to renew Sacramento River Settlement Contracts for over two million acre feet of water.

USBR is holding a hearing in Willows on October 27 (3-6 pm at Monday Afternoon Club, 120 North Lassen Street) on the environmental review of the Settlement Contract  Renewals.  Organizations protesting these renewals and the environmental review will be attending and testifying.

©¯As proposed, these contracts will encourage water exports which in turn will lead to fewer working farms, lower reservoirs, less boating and fishing recreation, and dry wells˜, according to Sacramento Valley Environmental Water Caucus co-chair Michael Jackson.

Jackson points out that the proposed renewals provide more water than the districts have historically used and promises deliveries for the next forty years. ¯To ensure that we have the flexibility weˆll need to contend with future growth or droughts here in our Valley, we should limit the life and amount of these contracts.˜

The contract renewals are governed by the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act, which allows individual farmers to sell the water that they donˆt use to grow crops.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Bureau of Reclamation's own files reveal that all but two of the Settlement Contractor water districts would receive allocations for more water than they have historically used totaling several hundred thousand acre-fee of water annually.

¯Southern California developers are eager for us to export more of our water to promote new growth there, and San Joaquin Valley corporate farms want more water because state public trust laws require that rivers they have traditionally relied upon such as the Trinity and San Joaquin leave enough water in the stream to restore healthy native salmon runs,˜ explained river advocate  and SVEWC co-chair John Merz. ¯The result of the increased exports from the Valley will be less water in our rivers when our fish and wildlife needs the flow.˜

Groundwater pumping is not covered in the contracts and there are no clauses prohibiting a farmer from selling their contract water and replacing it with well water.  In the last drought, farmers in the Valley used groundwater to replace the surface water that they exported.

¯It is not fair to other farmers and to anyone on a well to allow water exports without true groundwater  protection laws,˜ said Lynn Barris, a local farmer and member of Valley Water Protection Association.  ¯Water districts should only be allowed to use the publicˆs water in the amounts that their farmers need, after they have implemented water conservation practices. And they shouldnˆt be allowed to sell the water they take from our rivers and replace it with additional groundwater pumping.˜

Fishing clubs, river protection organizations, state and national environmental groups, local business owners, and others will provide details of their concerns about the environmental review of the Sacramento Settlement Contract Renewals at the hearing in Willows. They will also be there to protest against the damage these contracts will do to the local economy, fishing and recreation,  groundwater supplies, tax dollars and other concerns.

For more information about the issues being raised by these protesting organizations, contact Craig Tucker, Friends of the River (916-442-3155) or Michael Jackson SVEWC (530-283-0712).