On July 30, 2024, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and The Center for Biological Diversity (The Center) submitted public scoping comments on Water Rights Application 29835 (Application 29835) and the associated Mokelumne River Conjunctive Use Program (MICUP). Public scoping comments are intended to inform project leaders on what should be included in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), in this case for a water development project.
Application 29835 seeks to appropriate up to 110,000 acre-feet (AF) of Mokelumne River water per year. This water would be diverted at a rate of up to 620 cubic feet per second (cfs) between December 1 and June 30 during wetter years. Most of this water would be stored in aquifers that are currently overdrafted. Up to 48,000 AF of this water would also possibly be stored in Camanche and/or Pardee reservoirs.
The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) has designated the Mokelumne River as a fully appropriated river, granting only a conditional exception to new water rights specifically designed to store water as groundwater. Application 29835 proposes to divert water for conjunctive use only during peak flows, but absent specific flow requirements this does not eliminate potential harms such diversions could have on fish and wildlife. In their comments, CSPA and The Center urge San Joaquin County and the Coordinating Committee leading MICUP to prepare an EIR that is protective of ecosystems in the Mokelumne River, San Joaquin River, and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Application 29835 was originally submitted by San Joaquin County and partners in 1990. Application 29835 sought to appropriate water from the Mokelumne River for conjunctive use.
In 2014 San Joaquin County and partners amended Application 29835. The amended application proposed to store appropriated water in underground storage rather than in Middle Bar Dam or Duck Creek Dam. The amended application also reduced the points of diversion to Pardee Dam and various points between Camanche Dam and the Intersection of Mokelumne River and Interstate 5.
In 2014-2015, through a stakeholder initiative called MokeWISE, CSPA unsuccessfully sought to engage San Joaquin County on how much water the County would agree to leave in the river should a water right under Application 29835 be granted.
San Joaquin County and others propose to use water diverted under Application 29835 for agricultural irrigation, municipal use, and industrial use, and to recharge aquifers for later use. Under existing law, aquifer recharge is not considered a beneficial use of water in and of itself.
In their comments, CSPA and The Center urge San Joaquin County to produce an EIR that is protective of flow-dependent aquatic species. Such an EIR must include a water availability analysis that does not presume unappropriated flows to be excess flows. CSPA and the Center recommend that the EIR investigate an alternative that includes bypass flow requirements for the proposed water right of 55%-75% of unimpaired flow downstream of Camanche Dam. They also recommend that the EIR consider the Project’s direct and cumulative impacts to threatened, endangered, and sensitive species, incorporate the impacts of climate change on water resources, and consider the direct and cumulative impacts to riparian habitats.
CSPA first protested Application 29835 in 1996. CSPA has closely monitored Application 29835 ever since. Over the following decades, CSPA declined to dismiss its protest as the County changed the project. CSPA has the skill and the perseverance to stick with this long regulatory process. That is often what it takes to protect rivers and fish.