East battles west over extra farm water from San Joaquin River

May and June storms brightened a desperately dry year on the San Joaquin River, but now farmers are pitted against each other over the unexpected water.

The faceoff is between east and west sides of the San Joaquin Valley, the nation’s most productive farm region.

The argument boils down to disputed language in a letter from west-siders about a water deal earlier this year. The letter was sent in May to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, owner of the Friant Dam at Millerton Lake.

The letter explains an east-west water deal that would provide a small amount of water to east-siders, who face zero deliveries this year for the second season in a row. Many districts from as far away as Kern County were involved.

East-siders maintain the letter says they can keep any San Joaquin River water that gets to Millerton Lake this year. They say the extra 65,000 to 70,000 acre-feet of water from spring storms should be sent to their parched 1 million acres from Chowchilla to Bakersfield.

“We had a deal,” said Tulare County farmer Mark Watte, board member on Friant Water Authority, representing many east-side growers. “A deal is a deal.”

West-side farm officials disagree. They say the letter and the earlier deal are separate from any additional water. The unexpected water should be allotted according to historic water rights and contracts, they say.

And that puts the west-siders, who have historic rights to the river, in line ahead of the east-siders if the Bureau of Reclamation is forced to provide more water for the west-siders.

“The earlier deal we made still stands,” said Steve Chedester, representing west-side farmers with 240,000 acres between Patterson and Mendota. “We have honored it. But we did not give up our water rights in a letter that sums up the transaction.”

Chedester wrote the letter about the deal, which was designed to keep Millerton water for the east-side growers. It involved about 55,000 acre-feet of water — each acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons. East-siders have paid $10 million for the deal.

The east-siders usually buy river water in the Friant Division of the federal Central Valley Project. The west-siders are part of the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Authority, based in Los Banos.

The exchange contractors decades ago traded their San Joaquin water for Northern California water when Friant Dam was built. But the drought deprived them of the Northern California water last year, forcing the Bureau of Reclamation to send them the water from Millerton.

The letter this year said a release of river water from Millerton Lake would not be required, “allowing all water produced on the upper San Joaquin River system, including Millerton Lake, to be made available for delivery through the Madera and Friant-Kern Canals,” which are part of the east-side delivery system.

Dale Brogan, general manager of Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District in the Friant Division, said it was the spring storms that caused the exchange contractors to change their minds.

“The deal was for all the water that would develop on the San Joaquin River,” he said. “Now they are saying any extra yield, they expect it to come to them.”

Chedester said his letter had been “cherry picked.”

“Really?” he asked. “Someone is saying that we have assigned our water rights for the next year in that letter? I don’t think so.”

He said the issue is larger than the deal with Friant, adding that environmental regulations in Northern California had clamped down on water deliveries throughout the federal system.

Representatives of the Bureau of Reclamation did not respond Friday to a request for comment.

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 3:13 PM with the headline "East battles west over extra farm water from San Joaquin River."