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Glenn Colusa Irrigation District says it is drilling wells for test purposes, but nearby Butte County fears water will be exported and files suit

Posted by: Maven on April 26, 2008 at 6:13 am

From the California Progress Report:

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.

Read the rest of this article from the California Progress Report by clicking here.

April 26, 2008 · Filed Under Water Agency News

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