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Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication: Farm Bureau offers equitable water plan

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 21, 2008 at 6:33 am

From the Antelope Valley Press:

The Los Angeles County Farm Bureau wants Antelope Valley farmers to get a guarantee that they can pump groundwater at historic levels, plus a right to sell water from their wells to water districts or others inside the Valley. Written by five local farmers, a policy adopted by the local bureau seeks to settle a nearly decade-old legal battle over groundwater pumping rights by establishing plans to manage the groundwater basin and ensure transferable water rights. Transferable water rights would allow farmers to sell the rights to the water under their land to a water purveyor or private party for use within the Valley.

Under the policy, landowners who are using water on their property would receive a share of the benefits of the use of storage space in the basin. Reserving water to replenish the basin would be a top priority, but water could also be stored for use by overlying property owners, such as farmers or other water users. Water storage could be rented to entities outside the Valley, or water could be imported and stored for future use.

“I’m afraid a lot of (water) suppliers want to cut landowners back to less than 50% of historical pumping,” alfalfa farmer Gene Nebeker said. “It’s going to be economically devastating to the Valley. I also believe that would stimulate court action that could go on for a decade, probably.”

Nebeker estimates that farmers pump about 105,000 acre-feet of water per year. (An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, enough to supply an average Antelope Valley household for a year.)

Additional court action would delay efforts to monitor groundwater pumping Valleywide, as well as delay storing water in the basin. It could also force water agencies to withhold water for new development and force them to recharge the groundwater basin, he said.

Most of the Valley’s farmers are squarely behind Nebeker’s assessment, but Nebeker has his detractors. “Nebeker is a very intelligent man, but he has his own agenda,” Palmdale City Councilman Mike Dispenza said. “We must all get past our own agenda. Everybody is not going to get their way.”

Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.

July 21, 2008 · Filed Under Agriculture, Antelope Valley, Groundwater