Stockton Water District Plans To Release Water, But Farmers Say They Don't Want It
STOCKTON (CBS13) — The Stockton East Water District has more water than expected and plans to release the water to agribusiness downriver, but in a strange twist, the farmers don't want it.
Potter Creek is dry and has been since January, but next month water will flow through it.
Farmer Paul Sanguinetti's field behind his house would normally have tomatoes, but there's a different plant now—tumbleweeds. He didn't plant the field so he could conserve water this year.
But next month, more water will flow into Linden. Senior water rights farmers didn't use up all their water, so the extra will be released from New Hogan Dam.
"It's only a surprise because we're going to flood the whole system. We have been releasing water the last two months for ten days," he said.
Water will flow down the Calaveras River to Potter Creek in Linden where farmers can take it.
Farmer Michael Machado says farmers that take surface water from Potter Creek made other arrangements this year because of the drought, either choosing not to plant fields or they are using groundwater. He says the water release isn't needed.
"No. 1, it's not going to make a crop," he said.
Sanguinetti says there are at least 10 farmers who do want the water, and this is a way to stop them from pumping groundwater.
"We have to do something for the guys that are taking it out of the ground and this is one way of doing it," he said.
Machado argues that the district should save the water in case the drought continues next year and the water is needed then.
"Then the magnitude is will that 5,500 acre feet could actually provide 12,000 or 15,000 households for a year," he said.
If farmers don't use it now, Sanguinetti says they could lose it permanently to water customers in Calaveras County this summer or in the winter to flood-control water releases.
