July 20--State regulators proposed a $1.5-million fine Monday against a Northern California irrigation district for "unauthorized diversion and use of water" -- the first enforcement action of its kind against a senior water rights holder in the current drought.
The State Water Resources Control Board issued a draft complaint alleging that the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District diverted water for nearly two weeks last month after being told it was not entitled to do so, the board said in a statement.
In addition to about 160 farmers, the district serves Mountain House, a master-planned community of 15,000 residents in San Joaquin County. Residents and officials there feared that the state's curtailments -- the first in nearly 40 years against holders of water rights granted before 1914 -- would cause taps to run dry.
Unlike the vast majority of communities in California, Mountain House purchases all of its water from Byron-Bethany, so the curtailment order prompted a frantic search for new sources.
"We did not receive advance notice of the penalty and have just learned of this. We are working on a response," said Erin Gilhuly, a Byron-Bethany spokeswoman, in an email.
Under an agreement reached June 22, the water supplier's general manager said the community would continue receiving water from the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District and would accept financial responsibility for any fines or penalties associated with its delivery.
It was not clear at the time whether the state water board would accept the agreement between Mountain House and the irrigation district.
On a call Monday afternoon with reporters, state water board officials said regulators have conducted about 250 inspections related to illegal diversions in 2015.
"It highly likely that additional enforcement actions ... will follow in the weeks and months ahead," said Andrew Tauriainen, a prosecutor with the board's Division of Water Rights. "We're doing all the investigations we can and we'll bring about all the enforcement actions we can."
The amount of water Byron-Bethany was diverting "was significant in this case," Tauriainen added. The unauthorized diversions appeared to stop on June 25, but the investigation is ongoing, he said.
Although the district received a notice from the water board commanding it to "immediately stop diverting water" on June 12, officials with the water supplier told The Times days later that it would continue supplying water to Mountain House until it had time to further evaluate the curtailment notice.
"Byron-Bethany was very publicly stating that it wasn't going to stop diversions, which as you can imagine, draws the attention of regulators," Tauriainen said.
The irrigation district can request a hearing before the state water board. Board officials could not detail a timeline for how quickly such a hearing would occur, but if the district does not request a hearing within 20 days, the board would adopt the order, officials said.
The board can fine water-rights holders up to $1,000 per day and $2,500 per acre-foot of diverted water for violating curtailment orders.
Tauriainen said the maximum penalty for Byron-Bethany's transgressions could have totaled about $5 million, though the recommended fine is only $1.5 million.
"It means the state is taking the drought extremely seriously; They're following through on their commitment to enforce water rights because its not like there's extra water to go around," said Mark Gold, associate vice chancellor of environment and sustainability at UCLA. "This is a serious fine that will capture the attention of agricultural water users in the entire state of California."
Though Gov. Jerry Brown's order to reduce water use by 25% is aimed at urban users, Gold said the water rights system is the "major tool" the state can leverage to force the agricultural sector to cut back.
"The public should really look at this and see that the state is taking agricultural water use very seriously," Gold said.
Byron-Bethany won't be the last district to be penalized, Gold said, adding that "it remains to be seen" whether farmers will accept the fines or fight them.
"This is new territory," Gold said. "The response from the agricultural community is going to be almost as important as the enforcement action."
UPDATES
3:24 p.m.: This post was updated with additional reaction.
2:31 p.m.: This post was updated with comments from the water board prosecutor and additional edits.
1:17 p.m.: This post was updated with response from the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District.
This story was first posted at 12:34 p.m.
