Drought decreases groundwater

The Orland-Artois Water District is dry and looking for water.

Earlier this year, the district was granted a temporary permit to divert 10,000 acre-feet of water from the Orland Project.

However, because it took so long to get through the bureaucratic red tape, only 1,500 acre-feet got released to irrigate permanent crops, according to Orland-Artois District Manager Sue King.

That was in addition to 21,200 acre-feet the district received in a three-way contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Orland Unit Water Users Association – formerly the Orland Project.

Those numbers compare to 60,000 acre-feet of water typically used in a year, King said.

The temporary permit expires at the end of the year.

Heading into the second year of a drought, the biggest concern is not crops - it is ground water, King said.

“We don’t expect it to have much impact on the crops as on ground water,” she said.

In requesting the temporary urgency change permit for 2008, reports noted that landowners with wells noticed a 40 percent decrease in groundwater.

As a result, many have lowered their wells or are drilling new ones. Because of demand, however, the waiting list for new wells is up to a year-and-a-half long, King said.

She noted that some 50,000 acre-feet of groundwater was pumped in the district this year.

If the drought continues another year or two, King said crops could be effected.

The district has about 15,000 acres in permanent crops, primarily almonds, walnuts, prunes and vineyards, according to State Water Resources Contract Board’s petition.

In its public notice that the petition had been filed, the State Water Board noted that “the district is a water short district. Any cut, regardless of percentage, necessitates the immediate need for additional water from another source.”

That may prove difficult unless sufficient precipitation fills water reserves such as Lake Shasta.

King said that right now, “Shasta only has about one-quarter its capacity.”

Current conditions already have resulted in agricultural water rationing in the district, the report states. Some crops already have suffered.

“Mature trees pulled due to insufficient surface and groundwat4er include 41 acres of prunes, 150 acres of almonds and 300 acres of vineyard. Orders for 150 acres of new almond trees had to be canceled,” according to the State Water Board.

Still, King said that “historically, from when we completed our system in 1983, droughts last two to four years.”