After a public records request to Modesto Irrigation District (MID), I received a heavily redacted “Master Water Plan” for MID Director Larry Byrd’s AB La Grange Ranch and other properties. Despite the redactions, I was able to infer Byrd’s usage and billing based on data gained from previous public records requests. ec

Though the few people who actually read it left with strong suspicions it had omitted key details, the 4Creeks’ investigation into Larry Byrd’s irrigation practices on the AB La Grange Ranch established two very useful data points:

1. The investigation supported former Ranch Manager Todd Sill’s claims that Byrd’s out-of-district almond trees had not been irrigated with ground water.
2. The investigation established an irrigation water requirement (IWR) for almond crops with granular specific regard to the AB La Grange Ranch.

Actually, the IWR for almond crops has been common knowledge among farmers for decades. In fact, the IWR for almost any crop, from almonds to clover on through rice and walnuts is widely published. What the 4Creeks’ investigation did do was publish a shared baseline of knowledge about local irrigation from which to draw logical inferences and conclusions. That baseline knowledge confirms that three-and-a-half acre-feet of water per year is the general IWR for almonds.

That baseline IWR is why when anyone with even a modicum of irrigation and crop knowledge sees a figure like 862.4 acre-feet of Tuolumne River water pumped onto a total of 90 acres of pasture and 50 acres of almonds, as Byrd reported in 2022, the only possible responses are disbelief followed by suspicion.

Byrd’s reported riparian water extravagance is relevant here because 2022 was a year of severe water curtailments along the Tuolumne River. It was also a year of drastically reduced water allotments at Modesto Irrigation District (MID), where Larry Byrd sits on the Board of Directors. In 2022, the normal MID allotment of forty-two inches was reduced to thirty inches per acre.

So, when the 4Creeks’ investigation showed Byrd pumped 40.37 inches of MID surface water onto his 340 acres of almond trees on the Rodoni property — just a few city blocks north of the riparian crops — some people wondered how he was able to exceed his allotment.

Byrd said his usage could be explained by what some at MID call a “Master Water Plan” or “General Water Account.” These accounts are legal affiliations that enable MID surface water users to aggregate property and parcels for the purpose of conserving water and maximizing irrigation efficiency.

For example, if a farmer has 50 acres of rice and 50 acres of almonds and it’s a drought year, the farmer can fallow the rice. Water saved from the fallowed rice can be transferred to the almonds. The total irrigation allotment remains the same.

Both almonds and rice require at least three-and-a-half acre-feet of water, often more. Almonds are a so-called “permanent” crop; they can’t be fallowed one year and restored the next. So, a “General Water Account” can enable farmers to maximize water usage and survive drought years by rotating irrigation, depending on crop types.

In theory, Larry Byrd could have fallowed certain crops in 2022 so as to keep his almond orchards producing during a year of severely reduced allotments. However, that does not appear to be what happened, at least not as reported on Byrd’s Master Account.

Byrd’s general water accounting for 2022 shows a remarkable uniformity. There are eight parcels/properties involved. In 2022, every one of those eight parcels/properties was billed for two acre-feet of water.

In one case, for fifty acres of pasture, Byrd was billed for one-hundred acre feet of water, which was reportedly applied in one irrigation. For anyone familiar with general irrigation water requirements, those numbers are absurd. Pasture generally requires even more water than almonds, and much more than two acre-feet. Moreover, why would any farmer apply his total water volume in one round of irrigation?

The focus of the 4Creeks’ investigation was on 340 acres of almonds on property locally known as the “Rodoni Ranch.” According to Byrd’s Master Water Account, those same almonds were billed for two acre-feet of water. Those figures are as preposterous as the figures reported for Byrd’s use of riparian water in that same year. In fact, two acre-feet — twenty-four inches — isn’t just less than the IWR for almonds, it’s even less than MID’s reduced allotment of thirty inches for 2022!

For just under ten months, Larry Byrd and MID have been unable or unwilling to provide simple documentation that would clear the record about Byrd’s apparent illegal use of MID surface water on his out-of-district almond trees. Moreover, Byrd’s explanation that a “Master Water Plan” — or “General Water Account” — explains going over the thirty-inch allotment in 2022 does not hold up. In fact, he was billed for even less than thirty inches!

The closer we look at Larry Byrd’s pumping records and billing, the more discrepancies arise. Whereas 4Creeks reported Byrd’s surface water usage on the 340 acres at 1143.81 acre-feet, MID itself reported he used 977 acre-feet.

Then again, according to Larry Byrd’s Master Water Account, he was billed for 680 acre-feet. That’s an absurd figure, but only one of many.

It may be that Larry Byrd and MID management have simple explanations for an ever-growing list of discrepancies, impossibilities and preposterous pumping and billing numbers. Problem is, they’ve had almost ten months to provide those explanations and have not.

According to MID’s own records, Director Larry Byrd is billed for about half the IWR for all his in-district crops. That’s a scandal even more damning than the ongoing mystery of how Byrd’s ninety-six acres of almond trees have managed to thrive without water.

No wonder Larry Byrd voted against further investigation into his irrigation practices. There was obviously a lot to keep hidden.