In the Name of Science: Residents Discover Plan to Export Northern California Groundwater; Agency Says Pumping Just For 'Research Purposes'

By Traci Sheehan
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

Residents in the Sacramento Valley are fighting what they see as the first steps in exporting Northern California groundwater to the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley, and Southern California.

Earlier this year, Butte Environmental Council filed a lawsuit against the Glenn Colusa Irrigation District (GCID) after discovering plans to tap into the Lower Tuscan aquifer, the community's primary source of drinking water, without conducting an environmental review as required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The Lower Tuscan provides water for over eighty-five percent of Butte County residents. It also contributes stream-flow to the state's richest spawning habitat for the critically threatened Central Valley Chinook salmon.

GCID claimed the seven proposed groundwater extraction wells were strictly for research purposes and therefore exempt from any review requirements.

However, the Butte Environmental Council discovered that the project's federal grant documents told a different story, stating that the project will "provide additional water supply for the Bay-Delta," and "make water available for in-basin and out-of basin transfers that will improve statewide water supply reliability."

"This confirms our worst fears. The federal and state agencies see our groundwater basin as a solution to their disastrous manipulation of California's water," said Barbara Vlamis, Executive Director of the Butte Environmental Council.

The Council's case against GCID will be heard on May 22 in the Glen County Superior Court. Hopefully, the Court proceedings will shed light on the intentions and implications of this project.

Different project, same excuse

After strong protest from PCL and others, GCID recently gave up plans to transfer 53,000 acre-feet (AF) of water, 2,500 AF of which was pumped from the groundwater basin, from Northern California and the Delta to the San Luis & Delta Mendota Water Authority in the San Joaquin Valley.

However the Chico Enterprise reported last week that, according to GCID's General Manager Thaddeus Bettner, the District will proceed with plans to pump 2,500 AF annually from Lower Tuscan groundwater for "research purposes."

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