[env-trinity] Redding Record Searchlight 2 13 10

[Byron Leydecker]

Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority sues feds over water allocations

Redding Record Searchlight-2/13/10

By Dylan Darling 

 

A north state water irrigation canal operator is suing the federal
government, saying it's violating the law by sending water south without
first fully supplying agriculture here. 

 

"Those were the promises when the Central Valley Project and Shasta Dam were
first contemplated," said Jeff Sutton, general manager of the Tehama-Colusa
Canal Authority. "Now, in a time of scarcity, those promises have not been
honored."

 

The canal authority filed suit earlier this month against the Bureau of
Reclamation, claiming it is operating the Central Valley Project in
violation of U.S. and state law.

 

Supplying 150,000 acres in Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Yolo counties, the
canal authority is on contract with the reclamation bureau to receive
320,000 acre-feet of water. An acre-foot is enough water to flood one acre
of land a foot deep.

 

In recent years, the bureau cut deliveries to the canal authority while
still sending CVP water down the Sacramento River to agricultural land in
the lower sections of the project, Sutton said. In 2008, he said, the bureau
gave the canal authority 40 percent of its allotment.

 

The canal authority is not seeking any money in the lawsuit, Sutton said,
but aims to receive a court order forcing the bureau to supply water as
outlined under its contracts.

 

The Central Valley Project stretches 500 miles from Lake Shasta to
Bakersfield. The bulk of the water for the CVP is collected at Lake Shasta.

 

The 140-mile-long Tehama-Colusa Canal starts at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam
and supplies 16 water districts.

 

Bureau officials did not have any comment on the lawsuit, said Lynnette
Wirth, a bureau spokeswoman in Sacramento.

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JcT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 land/fax (call first to fax)

415 519 4810 mobile

 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net> bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

 <http://fotr.org/> http://www.fotr.org 

 

 

 

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