Among the many disturbing consequences of the Modesto Irrigation District’s (MID) failure to complete the investigation into Director Larry Byrd’s irrigation practices on the AB La Grange Ranch, one of the gravest will be the tacit admission that MID cannot or will not determine how much MID surface water is used outside the district.

Keep in mind that MID and the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) depend on Tuolumne River water, as do the City of Modesto, MID ratepayers, and local farmers. All these entities have been vociferously opposed to state proposals to increase flow volumes for fish and San Joaquin Delta ecology because such increases would reduce available water for their own uses.

Now consider the state’s position when it realizes that Director Byrd most certainly went outside district boundaries when he irrigated over 100 acres of out-of-district land he farms on the AB La Grange Ranch in southeastern Stanislaus County.

Just for the sake of argument, let’s say Byrd did not exceed his normal MID allotment of 42 inches of MID surface water when he irrigated out-of-district. It would be perfectly reasonable for the state to conclude that Director Byrd’s allotment must therefore be too much, since he can irrigate both in- and out-of-district trees with that same allotment.

Making the case even worse for MID and other local users, both Byrd and fellow director Janice Keating have argued that further investigation would open a “can of worms,” implying that Byrd is not the only district farmer using MID surface water on out-of-district crops. Imagine how such a revelation will be met by the many other stakeholders in Tuolumne River water, including the City of San Francisco, Dos Rios State Park, the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge, Restore the Delta, Friends of the River, the Tuolumne River Trust and others, all of whom offer competing claims for that same water.

The state could then argue that reduced flows for MID are entirely justified when the region’s largest irrigation district has admitted it not only doesn’t know where its water is going, it doesn’t even know how much water is involved in out-of-district use. The state would have plenty of support for its argument from the many other stakeholders in Tuolumne River water.

The state could also use data from the 4Creeks’ investigation, which showed that in 2022, when the MID irrigation allotment dropped from the usual 42 inches per acre to 30 inches, Byrd’s actual usage  was 40.37 inches, very close to the normal allotment. Coincidentally, 2022 was the year Byrd reported pumping 862.4 acre- feet of Tuolumne River water onto a total (as reported; it’s probably fewer acres) of 140 acres of almonds and pastureland along the edge of the river during a year of severe curtailments.

The possibility of state-mandated reductions in allotments for MID rises exponentially when it can be shown MID has failed its fiduciary responsibility to measure, allot, and monitor water use within the district, especially when there is credible evidence that out-of-district use very likely includes amounts above and beyond MID’s published allotments. Because of Byrd’s profligate irrigation practices, even in-district users are vulnerable to claims of over-allotments.

Again, all the state would have to do to undermine MID’s credibility and authority is cite the 4Creeks’ report on Larry Byrd’s irrigation practices on the AB La Grange Ranch. Our next post, coming soon, will argue the 4Creeks’ investigation reveals even more about MID’s failings than Byrd’s.