Apr 18, 2012
Capital Press
April 18, 2012
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A bill that could provide relief for water rights holders suffering the sticker-shock of sharply escalating watermaster fees is advancing in the state Senate.
The legislation by Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Fair Oaks, seeks to reverse a prohibition for the state Department of Water Resources to fund the watermaster program. It has passed the Natural Resources Committee and is now in the Appropriations Committee.
Although the bill, Senate Bill 1247, would not guarantee funding, its passage would enable farm groups and other advocates to try to secure some money over the next few years so that landowners could form their own special districts, said Margo Parks, the California Cattlemen’s Association’s associate director of government relations.
“To get funding for that program might be a challenge considering the state of the California state budget,” Parks said. “But we do feel as though the watermaster program provides a public benefit, not only to the water users but citizens of the state. Water is a public resource, so we do think it is appropriate for the department to partially fund that program.”
Water rights holders along certain creeks and rivers in Northern California face skyrocketing fees for watermaster services, which police how much water they use. State funding for the program was eliminated in 2011, leaving landowners to cover the program’s roughly $1.2 million annual cost.
One Portola, Calif., cattleman, Paul Roen, saw his fees jump from about $7,000 to $19,000 a year, he said last month.
For him and others, the CCA is also backing a companion bill, Assembly Bill 1578, which would authorize an Indian Valley Watermaster District in Plumas County. The bill by Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Marysville, faces an April 25 hearing in the lower chamber’s Local Government Committee.
The watermaster program was created as part of water rights adjudications decades ago. The watermaster serves as a sort of referee to prevent or resolve disputes among neighboring landowners who share a water source.
The state water code has long called for irrigators to pay at least half the cost of the service, but the Legislature has usually picked up most of the tab – until this fiscal year, when Gov. Jerry Brown zeroed it out.
The watermaster bills are among several agriculture-related pieces of legislation in Sacramento that are advancing or face key tests this month. Among the others:
* A hearing of the Assembly Transportation Committee to discuss Assembly Bill 1516, which would expand an allowance for common three-quarter-ton, 1-ton and flatbed pickups used to haul standard gooseneck livestock trailers, was postponed from April 9 to April 23.
The CCA is encouraging its members to attend the hearing in support of the bill by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, which would ease current restrictions and fees for farmers and ranchers.
* Assembly Bill 2509 by Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, passed the lower body’s Natural Resources Committee unanimously on April 16 and is now in the Appropriations Committee. The bill allows for an exemption in the State Mining and Reclamation Act, enabling excavation or grading of lands affected by a flood or natural disaster.
Under existing law, only a one-time exemption is allowed and it does not flexibility for landowners to remove materials that have been deposited on their lands, Nielsen explained in a news release. The bill would allow landowners to remove the materials and sell them without being considered a mining operation.
* Assembly Bill 2177, which would assign a prison term for up to seven years for exploding a device or committing arson on a beef feedlot, dairy, poultry or swine facility, passed the Public Safety Committee on April 17 and is headed for the Assembly floor.
The proposal by Assemblyman David Valadao, R-Hanford, was introduced after a Jan. 8 arson fire destroyed 14 big-rig tractors and several trailers at Harris Ranch near Coalinga, causing a loss of more than $2 million.
Online
To read the bills and analyses and track their progress, visit leginfo.ca.gov
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
This information and much more that you need to know about the ESA,
the Klamath River Basin, and private property rights can be found at The
Klamath Bucket Brigade’s web site – http://klamathbucketbrigade.org/index.html –
please visit today.
Apr 10, 2012
Senators Gaines, LaMalfa Move Watermaster Reform Forward
SACRAMENTO – Senator Ted Gaines (R-Rocklin) today announced that legislation to reestablish a funding pathway for the State Watermaster Service Program within the Department of Water Resources (DWR) cleared a major hurdle, passing out of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water. Senator Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), who serves as Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, spoke in favor of the bill and led the committee in moving it forward.
“The Program is vital to the success of California’s farmers and ranchers and I thank the Committee for recognizing the importance of this bill,” said Gaines. “Allowing for partial funding of the Program provides not only a benefit to the water users, but it also helps to prevent the waste or unreasonable use of water – one of our most precious resources.”
“Excessive state mandates are the reason watermaster costs have shot through the roof, so providing state funding for the program is a common-sense step forward,” said LaMalfa. “Senator Gaines’ bill will help relieve the pressure on family farmers and other rural water users, but we must remain vigilant against intrusive government agencies and mandates.”
The DWR is required by law to divide the state into watermaster service areas in order to distribute water according to certain water right determinations. However, costs to water users skyrocketed after state funding for the program was cut in 2011, with some facing increases of up to 800 percent over previous costs. In 2011-2012 the “average” water master bill increased from $243 to $861.
Senate Bill 1247 seeks to provide some monetary relief to water users by allowing the DWR to again pay up to 50 percent of the Program costs should the funding be available up until January 1, 2014.
Senator Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing the fourth Senate District including Shasta, Tehama, Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Siskiyou, Sutter, Del Norte, Placer, Trinity, Yuba and Nevada counties.
Mar 7, 2012
Siskiyou Daily News
March 6, 2012
California — As of March 1, the Scott and Shasta Valley Watermaster District (SSWD) is up and running for their first season of monitoring many surface diversions previously overseen by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). The newly created watermaster district has been in the works since DWR announced last summer that they would be shifting 100 percent of the cost for the service onto the irrigators that use it.
Until last year, the state had absorbed a large part of the cost of providing watermaster services to irrigators. However, the current state budget eliminates that contribution. The change has increased operating costs for local irrigators by as much as several thousand dollars in some cases.
On Dec. 22, Siskiyou County Superior Court judge Laura Masunaga signed the court order transfering DWR’s local authority over the service to the SSWD.
According to DWR, “The main purpose of the Watermaster Program is to ensure water is allocated according to established water rights as determined by court adjudications or agreements by an unbiased, qualified person, thereby reducing water rights court litigation, civil lawsuits, and law enforcement workload. It also helps prevent the waste or unreasonable use of water. The state established the Watermaster Program in 1924 to provide for general public welfare and safety after many injuries and some deaths resulting from disputes over adjudicated water rights.”
Watermaster service areas were created by DWR either at the request of water users or by order of the Superior Court, but may be modified by the current watermaster. The first watermaster service area was formed in September 1929.
SSWD said, “Today, 88 years later, the Scott and Shasta Valley Service Areas have joined other Watermaster Service Areas in the far north state region of California by successfully localizing this service and providing a cost savings compared to the continually increased budget of DWR and a cut of the State’s General Fund share in that cost.”
SSWD has contracted the district’s administration to a local private non-profit company, the Northern California Resource Center’s Business Resource division, run by Rhonda Muse, Project Manager.
GEI Consultants, Inc. out of Rancho Cordova has been contracted to perform the fieldwork duties of watermastering.
According to a SSWD press release, “you may not notice much difference in staff since the watermaster chores will be carried out by veteran watermasters, John Clements and Keith Dick, formerly from DWR.”
SSWD said Clements recently retired from DWR and will be supervising GEI’s on-the-ground work on behalf of SSWD. He supervised DWR’s watermaster service from Red Bluff between 1993 and 2000 and directly served as watermaster for the Scott and upper Shasta areas during 2003 and 2004.
“Dick has been a familiar face in both Valleys for decades,” SSWD said. “Most recently he has been the watermaster for the lower Shasta and Little Shasta areas for DWR.”
Dick will be the primary contact in Scott and Shasta Valleys until Clements arrives in the area on April 1.
As of April 1st Dick will continue overseeing water diversions on the Lower Shasta (below Dwinnell Reservoir) and the Little Shasta rivers and their tributaries.
Clements will provide watermaster duties for Shackleford, French, Oro Fino, Snicktaw, and Wildcat creeks on the Scott Valley side and the upper Shasta River and its tributaries (above Dwinnell Reservoir and Parks Creek).
The project manager for GEI Consultants, Inc. reporting to the SSWD, “is also no stranger to the watermaster service,” the SSWD release said.
Bill Bennett, a Vice President of the nationwide GEI firm, supervised the DWR’s watermaster work on the Scott and Shasta between 2002 and 2005. During his career with DWR, he also served as both DWR Northern District Chief in Red Bluff, Chief of the Division of Planning and Local Assistance in Sacramento, Special Manager for Klamath Water Issues, and was California’s representative to the Klamath Compact Commission.
“SSWD is happy to start its new service this month with such an experienced team, especially given the limited precipitation that the area has had this winter. Water will undoubtedly be short this spring and summer, so water diversions will need to be watched closely early,” the release concluded.
Keith Dick can be reached at (800) 783-6539.
John Clements can be reached at (800) 783-3196.
And Bill Bennett’s telephone number is (916) 764-0817.
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
This information and much more that you need to know about the ESA,
the Klamath River Basin, and private property rights can be found at The
Klamath Bucket Brigade’s web site – http://klamathbucketbrigade.org/index.html –
please visit today.
Nov 8, 2011
REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 7:00pm
Business Resource
11236 N. Highway 3
Fort Jones, CA
(next to Chevron)
AGENDA
Call To Order 7:00
Establish Quorum
Introductions
Agenda Adjustments and Approval
Approval of Minutes: September 28, 2011
Public Comment concerning items of interest to the Board – 7:10
limit to 5 minutes
Business 7:15
Approval of bill payments/financial report
Update on Board election
Update on petitions
Legal counsel and insurances needed
Draft District By-laws
Discuss possible dispute resolution policy/procedure
Reports
Report on meeting with Montague Water Conservation District 7:50
Service and cost options proposed by MWCD
Next meeting – Schedule and agenda items 8:10
Adjournment 8:15
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