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Scott Valley Groundwater:
In 2010, the Siskiyou County Board of
Supervisors added Title 3, Chapter 19
“Groundwater Management Planning” to the
Siskiyou County Code of Ordinances. The Chapter
allows for the creation of Groundwater Advisory
Committees (GWACs) to the Board for the ten or
more groundwater basins in the county. These
GWACs are to provide voluntary locally driven
direction to the Board regarding groundwater
planning.
The California Constitution allows a county or
city to make and enforce within its limits all
local, police, sanitary, and other regulations
that do not conflict with the state's own
general laws.
Under this authority Siskiyou County has
jurisdiction over groundwater use. In Scott
Valley, it shares that authority with the
Siskiyou County Superior Court. The Court has
jurisdiction over the water rights of
groundwater users in the interconnected
groundwater/surface water zone as specified
under the Scott River Adjudication Decree.
The GWAC was created for
Scott Valley by Board resolution in January of
2011, with eleven representative appointees from
major groundwater users in various geographic
sections of the valley. This committee includes
irrigators, the city of Fort Jones and a
domestic user. All of its meetings have been
open to the public.
The Committee has several
goals: To “keep control of groundwater supply
within Siskiyou County, protect property rights
and Scott Valley’s agricultural economy, to
develop solutions to resolving
environmental-related issues for the Scott
Valley aquifer” and to seek the ability (money,
skills and commitment) to implement the
groundwater plan.
The plan for groundwater
management in Scott Valley has several
objectives: (1) to improve our understanding of
how groundwater and surface water behave; (2) to
maintain the long term viability of the aquifer
and assure that an overdraft condition never
materializes; (3) to reduce the conflict between
groundwater use and other uses of water –
including effects of groundwater use on cold
water fish; (4) to improve public understanding
of how agriculture uses wells and applies
irrigation to local crops; (5) to identify
non-agriculture water demands; and (6) to
identify potential groundwater use efficiency
and enhancement projects.
Current committee Chairman,
Tom Menne, recently presented recommendations to
the Board for a “Voluntary Groundwater
Management and Enhancement Plan for Scott
Valley.” It was unanimously approved by the
Supervisors.
The plan identifies a variety of voluntary
actions that can be taken by water users to
manage and enhance the resource. These actions
include identifying options: (1) to increase
groundwater and surface water supply; (2) to
increase groundwater recharge; (3) to improve
upland water storage and management; and (4) to
manage demand through actions such as
utilization of more efficient irrigation
systems, more water-efficient varieties of
crops, and utilization of sump ponds.
The GWAC has been working
closely with Dr. Thomas Harter of University of
California at Davis and various graduate
students to develop a sophisticated groundwater
model for Scott Valley. Major landowners have
provided a great deal of input on specific
cropping patterns, the amount of water applied
and the specific methods of application for
their operations. Farm Advisor Steve Orloff is
also conducting a study on local irrigation
applications to input into Harter’s model. The
Harter model is far more detailed than the
competing groundwater model commissioned by the
Karuk tribe.
In addition, the model will reflect data from
the (now) private Scott Valley Community
Groundwater Measuring Program. This effort began
in 2006 and now includes 36 wells covering a
valley-wide grid. The model will be used to test
various hypothesis regarding such things as: the
connections between groundwater and surface
water; the impacts of groundwater use on surface
water flows and temperature; and the impacts of
groundwater levels on the health of riparian
vegetation.
Flow Needs for Fish: A
reminder that the Department of
Fish and Game (DFG) is hosting two “orientation
meetings” focused on instream flow needs for
fish in the Scott and Shasta River watersheds.
The meetings will introduce a process for
developing study plans. The Scott River meeting
will be on Tuesday, November 12, from 6-8 p.m.
at the Fort Jones Community Center at 11960 East
Street. The
Shasta River
Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November
14, from 6 - 8 p.m. at the
Holiday Inn Express in Yreka. |
