Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Before Passing More Water Restrictions, Review Inefficient Rules
GV-Wire-1
By gvwire
Published 7 years ago on
July 26, 2018

Share

The backlash stemming from California’s latest restrictions on water use is not entirely based upon “pure fiction,” as the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, claims.
AB 1668, which encourages the State Water Board to fine water suppliers for straying from their water budgets, is just the latest instance of California’s overregulation of water rights.
Before our elected officials provide the State Water Board with any additional regulatory authority, they should review the impact some of the current regulations have had, specifically those associated with SB 88.


Opinion
Griffin Bovee
Passed in the middle of California’s last drought, SB 88 intended to crack down on unauthorized diversions of water by requiring any individual diverting 10 or more acre-feet of water per year to measure and report their rates of diversion to the State Water Board.
This extremely low threshold trigger places an undue regulatory burden on small agricultural water rights holders.
To comply with the law, small farmers and ranchers are expected to pay high costs to install and maintain measurement systems that can monitor their water diversions and storage.
For small farmers diverting more than 10 acre-feet per year, the State Water Board mandates weekly reporting to within 15 percent accuracy.

Small Farmers, Ranchers Can’t Afford Installation Costs

To do this, farmers are required to hire experienced professionals, typically from engineering firms or specialized contractors, to install measurement devices and certify their accuracy. Depending upon the complexity of a farm’s water system, initial appraisal and installation can cost well over $4,000. For small farms, the majority of which experience low profitability, this cost is exorbitant and potentially ruinous.

According to the State Water Board’s records, California farmers using between 10 and 100 acre-feet of water annually account for only 0.18% of total agricultural water use.
The situation isn’t much brighter for ranchers who store more than 10 acre-feet of water in stock ponds for their cattle. Though this regulation only requires monthly measurements to within 15 percent accuracy, accomplishing this is harder than it would seem.
The various types of stock pond storage and diversion methods that California ranchers use are not all accessible year-round and thus not measurable within the accuracy required by SB 88. Variation in precipitation, temperature, and weather can prevent ranchers from correctly gauging stock pond storage levels on a monthly basis.
For example, some foothill ranchers make use of stock ponds in the spring, summer, and fall that freeze over in the winter. Installing and managing remote monitoring systems capable of accurately measuring stock pond storage during inclement conditions can cost ranchers even more than small farmers.

It’s Not Clear Much Water Will Be Saved

To make matters worse, it’s unclear whether the state forcing small farmers and ranchers to pay thousands of dollars for complex monitoring systems will significantly reduce or curtail unauthorized water diversions. In general, small-scale farmers and ranchers account for a very insignificant amount of the state’s annual total agricultural water use.
According to the State Water Board’s records, California farmers using between 10 and 100 acre-feet of water annually account for only 0.18% of total agricultural water use.
Similarly, all of the state’s ranchers and dairy farmers use about 87,000 acre-feet of water per year, which makes up approximately 0.3% of California’s total agricultural water use. Both of these contrast starkly with the diversions of California’s 50 largest irrigation water rights holders, who account for 85% of total annual agricultural water diversions.

SB 88, like many recent state regulations of water rights, is well-intentioned but plagued by unintended consequences.
What benefit does the state receive from policing the thousands of farmers and ranchers who account for less than half a percent of the state’s total agricultural water use?
Certainly, it is a necessary and proactive step to regulate surface water diversions. Few would argue against monitoring for illegal water diversions as a necessary safeguard.

Increasing the Burden on Small Farmers

Yet, it is nothing short of government overreach to burden small farmers with the cost of monitoring and reporting on diversions of trifling amounts of water. To relieve these farmers while still maintaining the safeguard, legislators should increase the arbitrary 10 acre-feet threshold to at least 100 acre-feet.
SB 88, like many recent state regulations of water rights, is well-intentioned but plagued by unintended consequences.
We should focus on fixing our current overregulation, not on prescribing an additional set of rules and fines. Our representatives in Sacramento would do well to review the efficiency of the regulations already on the books before considering any new legislation like AB 1668.
Griffin Bovee is a research assistant studying California water policy at Stanford University.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

One Person Killed in Explosion Outside Fertility Clinic; Police Say Act Was ‘Intentional’

DON'T MISS

Trump Wants a Deal With Iran, but It May Be Weaker Than His Supporters Demand

DON'T MISS

Duffy Blamed Biden for Air Traffic Woes. It’s a Decades-Old Problem.

DON'T MISS

The Day Grok Lost Its Mind

DON'T MISS

Police and Firefighters Respond to an Explosion Rocking the California City of Palm Springs

DON'T MISS

Clovis Goes Full Throttle With Biggest Old Town Motorama Yet

DON'T MISS

Israel Launches a New Military Operation in Gaza a Day After Trump Leaves the Middle East

DON'T MISS

Kristen Stewart Was Always Ready to Direct

DON'T MISS

Walz Calls Trump a ‘Tyrant’ Who Is Trampling Americans’ Rights and Violating the Rule of Law

DON'T MISS

Severe Weather Leaves at Least 23 Dead, Including 14 in Storm-Battered Kentucky

UP NEXT

Democratic Candidates for CA Governor Shy Away From State’s Anti-Oil Crusade

UP NEXT

Trump Navigates Iran Nuclear Talks. Should US Insist on Zero Enrichment?

UP NEXT

Fresno, Wake Up. We’re Numb to Our DUI Problem

UP NEXT

Newsom Reveals His Weaknesses When He Needs Political Hardball to Get His Way

UP NEXT

Democrats Seeking California Governorship Strut Their Stuff for Union Leaders

UP NEXT

How Real ID Can Exclude ‘Real’ Americans From Flying, Voting and More

UP NEXT

What the World Needs From Pope Leo

UP NEXT

Today Harvard Is the Target. Tomorrow It Could Be Your Church.

UP NEXT

Jerry Springer — Yes, That Jerry Springer — Can Save the Democrats

UP NEXT

Other States Are Showing California How to Protect Its Budget Without Cutting Needed Services

The Day Grok Lost Its Mind

15 hours ago

Police and Firefighters Respond to an Explosion Rocking the California City of Palm Springs

16 hours ago

Clovis Goes Full Throttle With Biggest Old Town Motorama Yet

17 hours ago

Israel Launches a New Military Operation in Gaza a Day After Trump Leaves the Middle East

17 hours ago

Kristen Stewart Was Always Ready to Direct

18 hours ago

Walz Calls Trump a ‘Tyrant’ Who Is Trampling Americans’ Rights and Violating the Rule of Law

18 hours ago

Severe Weather Leaves at Least 23 Dead, Including 14 in Storm-Battered Kentucky

19 hours ago

Trump Says He Will Call Putin, Then Zelenskyy, on Monday to Push for Ukraine Ceasefire

19 hours ago

‘Eat the Tariffs!’: Trump Warns Walmart Not to Pass Costs to Customers

20 hours ago

Biden Audio Release Pressures Democrats Who Would Rather Talk About Trump

20 hours ago

One Person Killed in Explosion Outside Fertility Clinic; Police Say Act Was ‘Intentional’

An explosion that heavily damaged a fertility clinic in the upscale California city of Palm Springs appears to have been intentional, local ...

14 hours ago

14 hours ago

One Person Killed in Explosion Outside Fertility Clinic; Police Say Act Was ‘Intentional’

15 hours ago

Trump Wants a Deal With Iran, but It May Be Weaker Than His Supporters Demand

15 hours ago

Duffy Blamed Biden for Air Traffic Woes. It’s a Decades-Old Problem.

15 hours ago

The Day Grok Lost Its Mind

16 hours ago

Police and Firefighters Respond to an Explosion Rocking the California City of Palm Springs

The Old Town Motorama in Clovis is expected to draw up to 35,000 people Saturday for its biggest classic car show yet.
17 hours ago

Clovis Goes Full Throttle With Biggest Old Town Motorama Yet

17 hours ago

Israel Launches a New Military Operation in Gaza a Day After Trump Leaves the Middle East

18 hours ago

Kristen Stewart Was Always Ready to Direct

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend