By Lisa McEwen, SJV Water
A tiny water district in western Tulare County is poised to nearly triple in size by annexing 13,000 acres of land that has become “the stepchild nobody wants” for its lack of surface water.
The Atwell Island Water District, at 7,300 acres, sought the annexation in order to help farmers in the area get access to surface water, said board member Deanna Jackson. Atwell has a small federal contract for water from the Central Valley Project and is a subcontractor for water from the Cross Valley Canal in Kern County as well.
Jackson also runs the overarching Tri-County Water Authority Groundwater Sustainability Agency, tasked with bringing the region’s aquifers into balance per the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Atwell is a member agency of Tri-County, which also brought this acreage into its boundaries.
Groundwater-only lands, also called white lands, have become pariahs under SGMA as they don’t have surface water to recharge what they pump. So, getting a water district to take them on is typically seen as a benefit.
But several residents and another water district protested the Atwell annexation saying they weren’t given proper notice and are concerned about potential groundwater exports.
The Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) approved the annexation after two meetings. Now Atwell will begin working with the landowners. A board meeting is set for 10 a.m. Monday, April 21.
“We’ll start looking at what we can do for this area,” Jackson said. “Can we purchase water this year? Maybe. We need to have a meeting first.”
Lindsay resident and newspaper columnist Trudy Wischemann has spoken at several recent LAFCo meetings, concerned that water districts are annexing lands unchecked and claims their governance structure favors large landowners, leaving small landowners in the lurch. For those and other reasons, she protested the Atwell annexation.
Bruce Howarth, general manager of Alpaugh Irrigation District, Alpaugh Community Services District and Alpaugh GSA shared at LAFCo’s second meeting on April 2 that the commission denied a simple request to postpone its January decision. By the time he read the LAFCo notice about the proposed annexation, he could not get his boards together for guidance on how to respond.
He also voiced concern about the annexation violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
“We have grave concerns about CEQA. CEQA is a foundation to protect our environment,” he said. “I see this all the time working in Alpaugh, where things get pushed through, like High Speed Rail. Our ask is to have another hearing.”
Because the protests didn’t provide new information, per LAFCo rules, there won’t be another hearing.
Allensworth Progressive Association and Allensworth Community Services District had initially protested the January vote and filed a request for reconsideration of the annexation.
They cited a lack of proper noticing and California Environmental Quality Act violations but later rescinded their request after speaking with Atwell’s Jackson.
Wischemann and the Alpaugh district are still opposed to the annexation.
“I’m not done with it yet,” Wischemann wrote in an email.
Competing for water
Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District GSA jettisoned more than 7,000 acres of white lands in 2023. Some of that land overlaps land now annexed by Atwell.
Jackson told LAFCo commissioners at their April 2 meeting that the sole purpose for annexing the land is for Atwell to help bring in surface water when available.
“This is an agricultural area that has no ability to purchase water. When surface water is available, they can purchase and bring it in, and possibly continue farming a portion of the area,” she said.
Grower representative Steve Jackson (no relation) said farmers outside of water districts can’t buy and move water independently.
“It’s a competitive environment for surface water and we need the ability to compete. Being in a water district gives us that.”
Deanna Jackson added that the district has no planned water storage projects so the annexation is exempt from CEQA.
“Those concerns are speculative at this time,” she said. “Really, we’ve just been working diligently to extend this over the white area so that we could work on something to purchase water when surplus water is available.”
“Everybody’s looking for hope”
Other Tulare County water districts have also annexed white lands. Those include Ducor, Hope, St. Johns and Consolidated.
James Silva, general manager of Consolidated People’s Ditch and 14 other ditch companies, has spearheaded the effort to form Consolidated Water District. Four private ditch companies propose to cover 84,000 acres in northern Tulare County’s flatlands, 24,000 of which are totally groundwater dependent.
The proposal was approved by Tulare’s LAFCo and the Tulare County Board of Supervisors has approved submitting the proposal to a vote of the landowners. That mail-in ballot election will be on May 6. Five landowners have filed papers to fill board seats, he said.
“Everybody is excited to get this district formed and going,” Silva said. “For groundwater dependent growers, this is one way to get a lifeline for the future.”
The proposed Consolidated Water District has indicated it will use land assessment fees to buy surface water and build systems to convey surface water throughout the district.
“This trend is really because there are a lot of people facing the end of their farms,” Deanna Jackson said. “Everybody’s looking for hope and that’s what these annexations are about. White area folks can’t do it on their own, they need help from a district. If we can save some people, why wouldn’t we try?”
