North San Joaquin to ask Lodi for water

A local water district is still hoping to convince the city of Lodi to give it 1,000 acre-feet of water — free of charge — to help replenish the area's groundwater basin.

The North San Joaquin Water Conservation District board voted on Tuesday to send a letter to the Lodi City Council requesting the water and a spot on an upcoming council agenda. The water would be a one-time allocation.

District Manager Ed Steffani told the water board that Lodi hasn't used water it purchased from the Woodbridge Irrigation District the past five years because the city has yet to construct a water treatment plant.

The North San Joaquin district serves roughly the eastern half of Lodi and rural areas to the north and east.

While the city of Lodi has 30,000 acre-feet of water "banked" in storage, Steffani questions whether the city will be able to store all that water once the water treatment plant is completed.

Steffani and North San Joaquin board members have an idea — give 1,000 acre-feet to North San Joaquin for its Calfed-funded recharge project on the Mokelumne River near Woodbridge and Dustin roads.

The Calfed Bay-Delta Authority is an effort among state and federal agencies and environmental, urban and agricultural communities to address environmental and water management problems in the Delta and San Francisco Bay.

The pump and fish screen for the Calfed project are in place, and a pipeline will be installed on Monday, and that should take a week to complete, Steffani said. So the district will be ready — except that it doesn't have any water to use.

North San Joaquin normally would have the water it needs for the project, but it hasn't received any Mokelumne River water because of the dry winter this year.

The idea is to help replenish the groundwater basin by using 1,000 acre-feet of Mokelumne River water each year during wet winters and taking out half that amount during dry winters.The Lodi water purchased from the Woodbridge Irrigation District would take the place of the water the district didn't receive in water rights this year due to the dry winter, Steffani said.

"Why would the city want to give you the water?" Acampo resident Bill Fuhs, a critic of North San Joaquin operations, asked board members. "I don't understand it."

Lodi City Councilman Larry Hansen, who didn't attend the North San Joaquin meeting, said he isn't inclined to give any water away because Lodi paid Woodbridge a lot of money for it.

"I think a lot of taxpayers would question that, but if (North San Joaquin) could make a good case for it, bring it to us," Hansen said.

The Lodi City Council voted in 2003 to purchase 6,000 acre-feet of water from Woodbridge Irrigation District for $1.2 million per year. Since the city doesn't have any place to store the Woodbridge water, it is being "banked."

"The 'banking' thing is facesaving by the city," Steffani said during the North San Joaquin board meeting. "(The water's) gone. It's there only if Woodbridge says it's there."

The Woodbridge water is going into the ocean — unused locally, Steffani added.

Hansen and Lodi city spokesman Jeff Hood said the city hasn't lost any of its Woodbridge water. Hood said that once the city constructs its treatment plant just west of Lodi Lake, it will begin to collect the Woodbridge water all at once.

"We haven't lost a drop at this point," Hansen said.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.