Back in 2010, the State Water Resources Board released a study that said survival for salmon and the San Joaquin Delta depended on far greater flows from the local rivers, including the San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, and Merced Rivers.“ Apoplectic” doesn’t begin to describe the reaction from local water districts. Jeff Barton, assistant general manager for engineering and water resources at the Turlock Irrigation District said, “It would be […]
MID water sale
Water—It’s a Dirty Business
It’s axiomatic that truth is the first casualty of war, and that’s just as true of water wars as of wars between nations.Throughout the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) water sale controversy, background buzz has maintained that unless the water is sold, “They’ll give it to the fish,” or, less often, “They’ll give it to Los Angeles.” “They,” of course is “the government,” and it doesn’t much matter whether federal […]
Senator Feinstein: Just dropping by? It’s the water, stupid!
Woody Allen has said, “Paranoia is knowing all the facts,” and the more one knows about the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) water sale to San Francisco, the more likely one is to suffer severe attacks of paranoid dementia. Back in March, we alerted readers to one of the compelling factors behind the water sale—proposed legislation by California Senator Dianne Feinstein that would make water transfers less subject to government […]
Are Bee Editors and MID Directors Equally Clueless About Future Water Supplies?
Sunday, July 22, the Modesto Bee’s big story was on the declining use of irrigation water by local farmers. The story was accompanied by a large photograph of Don Pedro Reservoir, full almost to the point of overflowing. Most of the story seemed to support the Modesto Irrigation District’s (MID) water sale by assuring Bee readers that the District has plenty of water. As is often the case in […]
The Godfather Speaks: Bob Hackamack on the Tuolumne River
Bob Hackamack is already immortalized with a portion of the Tuolumne River named for him—Hackamack’s Hole, a Class IV rapid. Fortunately for the river, Hackamack, a Control Systems and Chemical Engineer, is as adept with a slide rule as he is with a canoe or kayak paddle. Many of those who know best about protecting rivers credit Hackamack with the unique mix of passion and scientific expertise it took […]
River Wars, Episode III: End of the River?
When the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) assures its customers there is enough Tuolumne River water to sell 2,000 acre feet per year to the city of San Francisco, knowledgeable citizens can only assume there’s a hidden back story. For one thing, many local farmers have been informed of reduced water allotments. Since their water comes from the Tuolumne River, they can’t help wondering how the claim of excess water […]
River Wars, Episode II: The King of California and Imperial San Francisco
Marc Reisner’s, Cadillac Desert, is still the primary text for those who would understand water use in the arid American west, but the recent flap over the proposed sale of Tuolumne River water to the city of San Francisco by the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) is best illuminated by Mark Arax’s, The King of California, and Gray Brechin’s, Imperial San Francisco. In The King of California, Arax and Rick Wartzman […]
River Wars, Episode I: The San Joaquin
October 1, 2009, water flowed down a sandy segment of the San Joaquin River that had run dry for more than sixty years. Though it was a major historic event, it was noted mostly by a small group of insiders who follow water policy like an investor follows the stock market. Almost three years later, Valley citizens are scarcely aware of the escalating battle over California’s second largest river, but […]
Specter of Fish Haunts MID Water Sale
Shortly after John Mensinger and Larry Byrd blew the wheels off the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) water sale bandwagon and the City of Modesto looked likely to sue to assure its water rights, the Modesto Bee opined that, given the intense controversy surrounding the water sale, it couldn’t hurt to form a citizens’ advisory committee of agricultural and urban customers to help steer the water sale controversy to a reasonable […]
Social Media and the MID Water Sale
It certainly wasn’t the first time the Modesto Bee was late to the party, but it may be the first time so many Valley citizens realized it so clearly. By the time of the Bee’s editorial endorsement of the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) proposed water sale, Valley insiders were far better informed than the Bee itself. They had gotten their news from a new wave of social media that has […]