SCH Number 2024020099

Project Info

Title

Biggs-West Gridley Water District 2024 Water Transfer Program

Description

The Biggs-West Gridley Water District (BWGWD) proposes to sell during the 2024 irrigation season up to 18,780 acre-feet (af) of water to the State Water Project Contractors Inc., Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), other South of Delta purchasers, including one or more Central Valley Project contractors, or a buyer diverting the transfer water from within or upstream of the Delta (collectively, Buyers). Buyers and others are seeking up to approximately 100,000 af of transfer water from various willing sellers in the Sacramento Valley during the 2024 irrigation season. Purchasing this water would lessen potential water supply shortages to these Buyers that may occur as a result of dry hydrologic conditions and regulatory restrictions on pumping in the Delta. As a willing seller, the BWGWD would make up to 18,780 af of water available to Buyers by idling cropland (i.e., non-irrigation of farmland by voluntary participants). Water made available by crop idling within the boundaries of the BWGWD would then be retained and stored by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) in Lake Oroville for delivery to Buyers. If DWR is unable to release the water from storage during the 2024 water transfer window of July through November, the transfer water may still be used in one of the following ways: (1) Buyers may negotiate terms with BWGWD for a 2025 water transfer which would include consideration for the inability to transfer the water supplies made available by BWGWD for 2024; or (2) Buyers may negotiate with DWR to secure rights to store the water transfer supplies purchased from BWGWD for conveyance at a later date. The BWGWD’s proposed transfer will comply with the most current Draft Technical Information for Preparing Water Transfer Proposals prepared by the DWR and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), dated December 2019 (Draft Technical Information), as applicable to land idling transfers.

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