For ten months, the controversy about Modesto Irrigation District (MID) Boardmember Larry Byrd centered on Byrd’s suspected use of MID surface water on out-of-district almond orchards he irrigates on the AB La Grange Ranch in southeastern Stanislaus County, just west of the unincorporated community of La Grange. Now, another question has risen; this time, it’s about Byrd’s billing records for his in-district trees.

The AB La Grange Ranch includes orchards on two properties, locally known as the “Rodoni” and “Rairden” ranches. Last year’s 4Creeks’ investigation into the possibility Byrd used surface water on the out-of-district trees concluded he could not have used groundwater. The only other available irrigation source was MID surface water.

Despite a request from MID Board Chair Robert Frobose that 4Creeks investigate irrigation routines on the Rairden property, the Rairden wasn’t studied. Only the Rodoni property was studied. After recent public records requests, I discovered an intriguing pattern of billed water use on both the Rairden and Rodoni properties.

The Rairden property offers several advantages for close study because it’s small. The Rairden orchard comprises approximately seventy-six acres (76.2); about thirty-one of those acres (30.77) are within MID boundaries; the rest are outside. Total acreage on the Rodoni property is four-hundred thirty-six acres. Three-hundred forty of those acres are in-district.

Among the most useful findings of the 4Creeks’ investigation was the establishment of an Irrigation Water Requirement (IWR) for the almond orchards on the Rodoni property. In a dry year like 2022, when water allotments were severely reduced, the IWR for the Rodoni orchard was just over forty-three (43.08) inches per acre. That’s a bit over three-and-a-half acre-feet (3.59). An acre-foot is the amount of water required to cover one acre of ground with one foot of water.

Since the Rodoni and Rairden orchards are only a short distance apart, we can confidently assume the IWR for both properties is the same. Using data supplied from MID power and pumping records, 4Creeks determined that Byrd pumped just over forty inches (40.37) per acre onto the Rodoni property in 2022 — very close to the IWR (and well over MID’s thirty-inch allotment for that same year). That’s about three-and-a-third acre-feet (3.36) of MID surface water onto three-hundred forty acres, for a total of over eleven-hundred acre feet (1142.4).

Using the same irrigation figures for the Rairden property, we would expect that Byrd pumped just over one-hundred three acre-feet onto the in-district trees (30.77 x 40.37 ÷ 12 = 103.51). He was billed for just under two acre-feet (61.59).

I was able to infer Larry Byrd’s billing rates after a public records request for his “Master Water Plan” (MWP). MID farmers use the MWP to aggregate water usage for several different properties. This enables them to fallow some properties in dry years so that they can apply the saved water to other properties. They can also achieve aggregate water allotments by transferring water from one property to another, so as to avoid paying more water per acre under MID’s tiered pricing policy:

* ‎$265 Minimum Charge per Parcel

MID’s tiered pricing policy starts with a bottom rate of two acre-feet. For up to two acre-feet per property, MID water is priced at two dollars per acre-foot. The price from two acre-feet to three is five dollars for that extra foot of water. After three acre-feet, the price jumps to eleven-dollars and twenty-five cents per acre-foot. The tiered pricing structure encourages conservation and efficient irrigation practices.

In theory, Larry Byrd’s MWP would show reduced pumping or fallowing of one or more properties to enable him to apply the saved water to thirsty orchards during a dry year like 2022. However, all of the properties in the plan were irrigated and billed at precisely the same rate: four dollars per acre, or two acre-feet per property. Most every property in Byrd’s MWP irrigated almonds or pasture. As a rule, pastureland requires over three acre-feet of water, much like almonds.

The irrigation charges for almost thirty-one (30.77) acres on the Rairden property were one-hundred twenty-three dollars and eight cents ($123.08). That’s for two-acre feet per acre (2 x 2 x 30.77 = 123.08).

Assuming Director Byrd applied the same amount of water onto the Rairden as onto the Rodoni in 2022, we concluded above that he pumped just over one-hundred three acre-feet (103.51). If Byrd had paid in-district prices for irrigating the Rairden property with the same amount of MID surface water used on the nearby Rodoni, he’d have been billed a little over four-hundred  dollars ($403.00). That’s because he would have gone over MID’s second pricing tier ($5 per acre-foot) and into the third ($11.25 per acre-foot). Instead, Byrd was billed for less than one-third that amount ($403.00 ÷ $123.08 = 30%).

It may be that Larry Byrd has an explanation for the puzzling water rates on his MID Master Water Plan. He may claim he pumped groundwater to augment surface water deficits on the Rairden property. However, his claims about pumping groundwater onto the Rodoni have been thoroughly refuted, both by eyewitnesses and by the 4Creeks’ investigation. In any case, explanations for the use of a public resource on private property should be clear and comprehensive enough so as to be easily understood by the average public citizen.

As for the Rodoni property itself, Byrd was billed for the same two acre-feet as for the Rairden. Figure deficits, acre-feet and dollars on the Rodoni by multiplying the Rairden figures times eleven (340 ÷ 30.77 = 11.04). In both cases, Byrd is paying less than one-third MID in-district surface water rates. For example, instead of paying for eleven-hundred forty-two acre-feet on the Rodoni property, Byrd paid for six-hundred eighty and avoided tier two and tier three pricing.

Last December, MID Directors Chris Ott and Robert Frobose voted to continue investigating Larry Byrd’s use of surface water on the AB La Grange Ranch because the 4Creeks’ investigation raised more questions than it answered. Further investigation was thwarted when Larry Byrd voted against it, in a clear conflict of interest.

Today, it’s abundantly clear that Directors Ott and Frobose were entirely justified in voting to continue investigating Larry Byrd’s irrigation practices. In fact, it now appears further investigation should include Byrd’s in-district billing, not just on the AB La Grange Ranch, but on every property in his Master Water Plan.