Your water supplies through the Exchange Contract are at risk

The Exchange Contractors Political Action Committee (ECPAC) needs your help and support - Today! California's water supply operations are in dire condition due to drought, regulations, and court-imposed operational constraints. The restrictions have resulted in 0% allocations for our neighboring and Sacramento Valley federal agricultural service contractors and deep cuts to the water supplies to Settlement Contractors who have senior water rights on the Sacramento River. Your water supplies through the Exchange Contract are at risk due to restrictions resulting in a significant shortfall in Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC) water supplies. For the third time in eight years, Reclamation has had to release water from Friant Reservoir to meet the terms of your contract.

California’s water rights and federal and state operations are under attack by environmental groups such as the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC). We need your help defending the Exchange Contract and our underlying water rights from these direct attacks.

THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW! Your financial support is needed to influence policy decisions, key appointments, and elections. We are also reaching out to our vendors and local agricultural support services for their financial support. Donations can be submitted directly online at: ecwaterpac.com/give , or your send your check to:

ECPAC

504 Van Ness Avenue

Fresno, CA 93721

For contribution guidelines and required forms, please visit ecwaterpac.com/landowners. You should have received a mailing with more information. If you did not, please register at ecwaterpac.com/contact-us and include your mailing address in the comment section. Thank you for your support.

Beginning this month, the ECPAC is releasing its podcast, “We Grow California!” Our first episodes can be downloaded HERE, or accessed accessed on Apple, Spotify, Buzzby, Overcast, Amazon Music, Podcast Addict, Castro, PodChaser, Deezer, PlayerFM, PodFriend, Podcast Index, Listen Notes, Pocket Casts, and Castbox.

Listen in as we welcome Chris White into the studio for some Exchange Contractors history and current water supply conversation. The purpose of the podcast is to engage Californians, policy makers and influencers on the importance of water reliability, ag, food security, and related policies/regulations. If you would like to provide a question, comment, or have a suggestion for a guest, submit it on our podcast page.

Within the week of penning this report the Governor will release his May Revision to his proposed Budget. He faces an embarrassment of riches as he has a $68 billion budget surplus. The Governor’s budget released in January envisioned a much smaller surplus. As he did last year, he has proposed to spend the surplus revenues on one-time expenditures including infrastructure programs. His January proposal lacks anything in the way of specificity about what projects he would be willing to support. There is some speculation that his May Revise will contain a more aggressive water package, which some hope will include infrastructure financing while others fear efforts to wrench water and water rights away from rural agricultural communities.

Both the Assembly and Senate have recently put out documents that reflect their priorities. The Assembly priorities are pretty vanilla while the Senate has slightly more details.

Assembly Budget Priorities in General: https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/2022%20Budget%20Blueprint%2012.9.21%20Final%20updated.pdf

Senate Budget priorities for water:
Senate Budget Water Proposals
With $18 billion Climate Package:
Water and Drought Package. $7.5 billion in state and federal funds to build a climate resilient water system:

$2 billion to rebalance state water supply and water rights.
$1.5 billion for new CA Water Trust to acquire lands with senior water rights from willing sellers.
$500 million to Dept. of Conservation for acquisition and repurposing of lands to implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

$1.5 billion to ensure all Californians have safe drinking water.
$1.5 billion for improving watershed climate resilience regionally.
$1.5 billion Drought Resilient Water Supply grants, to assist with recycling, stormwater capture, and groundwater cleanup.
$1 billion for Flood Management and Dam Safety grants to improve resilience of flood management system and fund public benefit portion of dam safety projects.

It is not a mistake or a misprint! The Senate has proposed $2 billion towards “rebalancing” water supply and rights. This proposal took many by surprise. As of this writing it is not clear where this proposal originated and where the lands in question are located. We continue to find out more about the origins of the proposal. However, the concept itself is not surprising. As the drought continues, we believe that efforts to “reform” water rights in California will grow. Members of the water community will need to be vigilant against proposals that seek to strip landowners and water managers of their rights and reallocate them to public agencies. Moreover, the water community needs to demonstrate unity in the face of these efforts and not allow ourselves to be split apart.

One bill that has garnered attention is AB 2201 (Bennett), which would require agencies granting permits for wells to verify that the new well would not have an adverse effect on the aquifer, existing pumps, and lead to subsidence. This bill represents renewed interest in groundwater after several years of relative low activity.