Farmers from Central Valley could have to pay it
By Diego Flammini, Farms.com
As California continues to battle one of the worst droughts on record, the California State Water Resourced Board could take extreme measures to ensure water is being used properly and legally.
The State Water Resources Control Board alleges that the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District, located in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area, illegally moved water from a pumping plant despite warnings in June that the current water supply wasn’t enough to accommodate that kind of movement.
It’s alleged the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District diverted upwards of 670 million gallons of water illegally. As a result, a group of farmers from California’s Central Valley could face a fine of $1.5 million.
“Byron-Bethany Irrigation District, located in Byron, has a pre-1914 right of May 1914 to draw water from the intake channel at the Banks Pumping Plant in Contra Costa County formerly known as Italian Slough,” says a press release on the State Water Resources Control Board website. “On June 12, 2015, the State Water Board notified all pre-1914 appropriative right holders with a priority date of 1903 or later in the Sacramento-San Joaquin watersheds and Delta that there was insufficient supply available to meet the needs of all water right holders, and that water was no longer available for diversion under their right.”
Information from the California Data Exchange Center states water continued to be diverted until June 25.
The Byron-Bethany Irrigation District can file a hearing before the State Water Board within 20 days.
Within the last year, approximately 1,200 investigations have been done about water usage. Byron-Bethany is being cracked down on because it publicly went against the board’s wishes during the drought.