On April 30, 2021, the City of Sacramento filed petitions with the State Water Board’s Division of Water Rights to transfer up to 14,650 acre-feet of water to the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) and State Water Contractor (SWC) agencies participating in the State Water Project’s (SWP) Dry Year Transfer Program (DYTP).
The City of Sacramento proposed to transfer water to SCVWD and the SWC Agencies through groundwater substitution, with agencies pumping groundwater in lieu of using surface water. The City of Sacramento said that without the transfer, in order to meet consumptive demand, it would divert the entire amount that is proposed for transfer from the American River and Sacramento River.
The State Water Board can only approve a transfer if evidence shows that the proposed change would not injure any legal user of water, and that the proposed change would not unreasonably affect fish, wildlife, or other instream beneficial uses. In addition, the proposed change must involve only the amount of water that would have been consumptively used or stored in the absence of the temporary change.
Under the State Water Board’s updated methodology for identifying when supply and demand data indicate that water is unavailable for diversion by water right holders in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Watershed, the information indicates that available supplies in the Sacramento River watershed are insufficient to support the diversion of any post-1914 water right, which include those held by the City of Sacramento. The evidence, including the methodology and related data provided by Sacramento, show that those diversions could injure senior diverters in the Sacramento River watershed, the order states.
Further, transferable water is limited to the extent of the surface water direct diversion rights of the water right holder at the time of the transfer. It is unclear whether water would be lawfully diverted and consumptively used in the absence of the transfer given that the Methodology indicates supplies are insufficient to meet the priorities of the permits held by the cities, the order states.
A012140+ - Denial Order
