Water marketing is the transfer or sale of water or water rights
from one user to another, typically from an agricultural to an
urban water agency, often without investing in new infrastructure
Michael Jones ducked under an idle sprinkler and strode across
the sandy soil where he planned to plant drought-resistant
crops, hoping to save water amid the driest period in more than
1,200 years. … A company known as Renewable Water Resources
(RWR) aims to drill a series of deep wells on a nearby ranch it
owns and pipe the water more than 200 miles north to a Denver
suburb, where sprinklers rotate on manicured lawns. The
firm recently sought $10 million from Douglas County to
kickstart its project. … If the state engineer’s office,
its water court, and federal regulators were to approve RWR’s
plan, it would mark the first time that private investors could
ship water from an aquifer in one part of the state to a
community in another.
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority has signed an
agreement to spend $6,396,000 to buy the rights to 750
acre-feet of state water per year to import from southwestern
Kings County. A nonbinding letter of intent signed Tuesday and
obtained by the Daily Independent lays out the terms between
the IWVGA and an entity called Utica LJL, LLC to purchase water
assets. Utica LJL is in the early stages of developing a site
along Interstate 5 about four miles south of Kettleman City to
build gas stations, restaurants, motels, an industrial park,
and farmland.
Utah’s main crop is a thirsty one and with water becoming more
limited, some are wondering if farmers should consider a crop
that uses less, according to a report released by Gov. Spencer
Cox Wednesday. The report, the third in Cox’s “Utah’s
Coordinated Action Plan for Water,” calls for new strategies
such as split stream leases and water banking. The 20-page
report focuses on agriculture. The previous reports highlighted
infrastructure investments and communities.
San Luis Obispo County began selling water purchased by county
residents to out of county water purveyors in 2008 and 2013,
without returning the funds to local property owners as
required by law, according to a recent SLO County Grand Jury
report. … Promoted by then-Public Works Director Paavo Ogren
and Supervisor Bruce Gibson, the Board of Supervisors approved
the sale of excess county water in 2008 and 2013, to out of
county purveyors. However, instead of returning the $6.3
million from the sale of the water to area taxpayers, Ogren
placed the funds in the District Zone General Fund.
In late 2020, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched
the first water futures market, called the Nasdaq Veles
California Water Index Futures. This market allows financial
speculators to literally gamble on the price of water. But how
does that actually work? And what are the consequences? … In
California, as in other western states, rights holders can sell
or lease the rights to use the water to others. The index
that Nasdaq Veles created is a single number that estimates the
prevailing price of water in California. This number changes as
water prices change. It’s based on an algorithm and a
supposedly representative list of transactions — both of which
Nasdaq Veles keeps confidential.
After a long back-and-forth on Tuesday afternoon, all but one
Mendocino County supervisor approved a draft of a water hauling
ordinance created by concerned community members. The
ordinance draft will move on to the planning commission for
review, despite lingering questions around how to fund it.
Board Chair Ted Williams voted against the ordinance because of
those concerns. The ordinance’s purpose is to protect the
county’s groundwater resources by regulating the sale and
transport of groundwater from private wells.
As water interests in the Colorado River Basin prepare to
negotiate a new set of operating guidelines for the
drought-stressed river, Amelia Flores wants her Colorado River
Indian Tribes (CRIT) to be involved in the discussion. And she
wants CRIT seated at the negotiating table with something
invaluable to offer on a river facing steep cuts in use: its
surplus water. CRIT, whose reservation lands in California
and Arizona are bisected by the Colorado River, has some of the
most senior water rights on the river. But a federal law
enacted in the late 1700s, decades before any southwestern
state was established, prevents most tribes from sending any of
its water off its reservation.
As water interests in the Colorado
River Basin prepare to negotiate a new set of operating
guidelines for the drought-stressed river, Amelia Flores wants
her Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) to be involved in the
discussion. And she wants CRIT seated at the negotiating table
with something invaluable to offer on a river facing steep cuts
in use: its surplus water.
CRIT, whose reservation lands in California and Arizona are
bisected by the Colorado River, has some of the most senior water
rights on the river. But a federal law enacted in the late 1700s,
decades before any southwestern state was established, prevents
most tribes from sending any of its water off its reservation.
The restrictions mean CRIT, which holds the rights to nearly a
quarter of the entire state of Arizona’s yearly allotment of
river water, is missing out on financial gain and the chance to
help its river partners.
Monterey Peninsula water officials are reporting that not only
did they meet the obligation to provide the agreed-upon amount
of water from the Pure Water Monterey water recycling project,
they were able to bank more than 100 acre-feet in groundwater
reserve. Pure Water Monterey — a project of Monterey One Water,
the area’s wastewater service provider — takes recycled water
that has been treated to a potable level and in a joint effort
with the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District injects
it into the Seaside Groundwater Basin for later
extraction.
This tour ventured through California’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s breadbasket thanks to an imported supply of surface water and local groundwater. Covering about 20,000 square miles through the heart of the state, the valley provides 25 percent of the nation’s food, including 40 percent of all fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed throughout the country.
In the universe of California water, Tim Quinn is a professor emeritus. Quinn has seen — and been a key player in — a lot of major California water issues since he began his water career 40 years ago as a young economist with the Rand Corporation, then later as deputy general manager with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and finally as executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. In December, the 66-year-old will retire from ACWA.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at California
groundwater and whether its sustainability can be assured by
local, regional and state management. For more background
information on groundwater please refer to the Foundation’s
Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater.
Although some water districts have coordinated use of surface
water and groundwater for years ,conjunctive use has become the
catchphrase when it comes to developing additional water supply
for the 21st century. This article focuses on conjunctive use. It
includes background information explaining how conjunctive use
works, discusses the potential storage capacity, provides an
overview of the hurdles that must be overcome to develop a
successful project, and profiles several projects.
The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides
background information on water rights, types of transfers and
critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in
1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on
groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River
transfers and the role of private companies in California’s
developing water market.
Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced
fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to
Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of
California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the
authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a
faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of
California water rights.
Water marketing is the transfer or sale of water or water rights
from one user to another, typically from an agricultural to an
urban water agency, often without investing in new infrastructure
Most exchanges involve a transfer of the resource itself, not a
transfer of the right to use the water.
Reallocating the available water on a supply-and-demand basis is
viewed by proponents as the best financial, political and
environmental means of accommodating an increase in population.
