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Fresno Farms to Water Tracy Homes?

A transfer of 3,000 acre-feet of agricultural water from a farm in Fresno County to a planned housing development in Tracy, 80 miles to the north, shouldn't have any negative impacts, according to a controversial environmental study released by the Bureau of Reclamation this November .

The water transfer is the brainchild of the Stockton-based developer the Grupe Company, which wants to build 5,500 suburban homes in the hills west of Tracy near the Altamont Pass. But the site - a 6,000-acre former sheep and cattle ranch - doesn't have any water. To get water, Grupe bought the small 800-acre Widren Water District outside Firebaugh. Grupe is now asking BurRec to allow the company to "wheel" the agricultural water allotment - which means the company could take water out of the Delta Mendota Canal in Tracy, instead of in Fresno County.

If the Widren water transfer is approved by the Bureau, farmers are fearful that developers will scour the San Joaquin Valley looking for other irrigation districts to buy, with the intent of stripping the water rights to feed thirsty subdivisions in places like Livermore, Tracy, Manteca, and Modesto. Farmers might then be forced to pump groundwater to grow crops or allow prime farmland will go fallow.

Although farmers often sell small amounts of water between themselves, individual Farm Bureau organizations in Fresno and Madera counties have adopted strict polices that oppose "out- of-area" transfer of agricultural water to urban uses. The California Farm Bureau Federation, as well as the Sierra Club, and the Stockton-based Land Utilization Alliance, have all criticized the environmental assessment for ignoring impacts such as increased groundwater pumping in Fresno County.

The Tracy City Council approved the project in early 1998 and was then sued, along with the developer, by Alameda County, the City of Livermore, and the Sierra Club. Fresno County supervisors - who oppose the transfer of water out of their county - filed a second lawsuit against the project. In a recent letter, the county described the environmental assessment as a "whitewash... a monumental exercise in glossing over and then dismissing the existence of impacts..."

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