TCCA files appeal for water rights
Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority is fighting back for water rights in the North State.
The authority's Board of Directors recently voted unanimously to appeal an August ruling by Fresno-based U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger that stated water users in the northern Sacramento Valley have no preferential right to Central Valley Project water deliveries under the state's "area of origin" laws.
The 16 members of the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority each has a contract with U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for water through the Central Valley Project. The authority serves Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Yolo counties.
Those members contractors are fighting for what they claim are their "area of origin" rights of the Sacramento River, and believe they should receive 100 percent of water allocations entitled them before any of that water is diverted to San Joaquin Valley contractors, including during dry years.
In 10 of the past 33 years, the canal authority has received less than its full water contract, causing shortages on the 150,000 acres of land it services.
According to Wanger's ruling, Central Valley Project contractors in the Sacramento Valley are not entitled to a priority of water allocations in dry years over exports to Central Valley Project contractors located south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The ruling diverges from a 2006 California appellate court opinion and a recent ruling of the State Water Resources Control Board, which is responsible for administering water rights in the state, including those held by the Bureau of Reclamation.
Wanger upheld the bureau's assertion that it has no obligation to give a priority to its contractors in the Sacramento Valley. The bureau was joined in its claims by the San Joaquin Valley contractors of the Central Valley Project.
"We were very disappointed that the federal court failed to uphold California's historic area of origin protections, which the state courts and regulatory agency say should assure Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority's rights to be protected from exports of Central Valley Project water needed in our own area," Ken LaGrande, a farmer and chair of the canal authority Board of Directors, said in a statement. "We are confident that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will reverse Judge Wanger's decision."
Tehama Colusa Canal Authority initiated the litigation during recent drought years, at which time the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had reduced Central Valley Project water deliveries to much of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.
