In a battle over Kings River water, Fresno should clearly win out over Kern County

Mark Twain gets credit for the great adage, “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over.”

Time to roll out the whiskey barrels because the San Joaquin Valley has a new water fight brewing.

In this instance, a Kern County water agency wants to get state permission to take floodwaters from the Kings River. Kings River water interests, including the city of Fresno, are opposing such a grab. This proposal contains all the elements of a classic California water war: A far-off entity wanting to take water from elsewhere in the state, while those closest to where the water actually originates cry foul.

But there are new aspects to this classic battle that could wind up being game-changers. The bottom line is that the proposal by the Semitropic Water Storage District, which is headquartered in Wasco, should be denied by state officials as a bad idea for several reasons.

The background

Semitropic started in 1958 as an irrigation district delivering supplies to growers in northwest Kern County. In the early 1990s it began a groundwater storage program as well. It serves 300 customers spread over 220,000 acres and banks 700,000 acre-feet of water.

The water district has filed an application with the State Water Resources Board to use floodwaters that occur on the Kings River in heavy precipitation years, reports Lois Henry, CEO/editor of SJV Water, a nonprofit online news publication. Semitropic claims the Kings River Water Association has forfeited two of its floodwater licenses by not using the water.

Semitropic wants 1.6 million acre-feet of water, about a year’s supply for 1.5 million homes. Currently those floodwaters are sent to a channel and into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Semitropic would re-route those floodwaters into the California Aqueduct for shipment 70 miles south to Kern County.

Not so fast, say Kings River water users upstream, like Fresno.

Locals react

The city of Fresno does not have direct rights to Kings River water. Rather, it gets supplies from the river through the Fresno Irrigation District. The city draws supplies from both the Kings and the San Joaquin River. Of the two, the Kings can supply much more.

Like many Valley cities, Fresno has been plagued with overpumping its underground water supplies. The chief way to avoid that is to make good use of surface water — like that from a reservoir or river. The city last year opened the $160 million Southeast Surface Water Treatment Facility specifically to treat water from the Kings River.

By using water from the rivers, the city can ease back its groundwater pumping. That is good because the San Joaquin Valley basin is one of the most overdrafted areas in the state. It is also the principle behind the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, a 2014 state law that requires water purveyors to bring their underground basins into balance and thus end overpumping.

Thanks in large part to the new plant treating Kings River supplies, Fresno has balanced its use of groundwater and surface water. Michael Carbajal, Fresno’s utilities director, says rights to Kings River water are fully granted, and any attempt by Semitropic to make a new claim will be vigorously opposed.

That is the same stance being taken by the Fresno, Alta and Consolidated irrigation districts. They brought a filing to the state board in 2017 to block Semitropic’s plans. Their argument: There is no new water in the Kings, but if the state board finds there is, any such water should go to the irrigation districts.

New elements

The groundwater act’s demand that underground basins be brought into balance is forcing water agencies around the state to develop new ways to put surface water into underground water banks. Agencies using Kings River water are actively pursuing this and believe any floodwaters are perfect for underground storage.

Then there are the hard-hit farming communities in Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties that suffered from dried-up wells in the last drought. Advocates for poor residents who lost water service say Kings River floodwaters should be used to recharge the well fields of those people.

There is also the aspect that Kings River floodwaters now flow into the Delta. Keeping the Delta and its fisheries healthy has been a state priority for years.

Those needs are important reasons to keep use of the Kings River in its home area and not a farming district in Kern County. California history is full of examples of water being shipped from one area to another; look how Los Angeles takes water from the eastern Sierra.

But given the new groundwater rules, the state’s emphasis on equitable treatment of low-income communities, and the importance of keeping the Delta healthy, the state board has ample reasons to deny Semitropic its attempt at a water grab.

This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 5:00 AM.