Water officials lightened their stance of turning off the water on all South County farmers tapped into the Cross Valley Pipeline by the end of the month during Thursday’s emergency meeting at the Santa Clara Valley Water District headquarters in San Jose.
Farmers, such as Andy Mariani of Andy’s cherry orchard and Farm Manager Ian Teresi of Chiala Farms in Morgan Hill, were reeling after receiving an automated phone call last week from the SCVWD that the water was going to be completely shut off, due to the district’s plan to cut off the Cross Valley Pipeline.
More than a couple dozen farmers in Santa Clara County would be affected by the closure of the pipeline that carries water to the area from the Central Valley.
But SCVWD officials said Thursday that they will evaluate the option to close the CVP more closely in the coming weeks before making a final determination.
“We’ll see how that pans out,” said Mariani after attending the 1.5 hour meeting of the minds between surface-water users and SCVWD officials. “I’m a little more optimistic than when I walked in, but I’ve still gotta see what happens.”
Without any other source of water, Andy’s family cherry business – one that spans six decades and is a permanent orchard that must be tended to year round – stands to be wiped out, he said.
SCVWD official Joan Moser, who fielded questions from a podium inside the board meeting room, said that Mariani’s predicament – and any others like his – warrant a closer evaluation by all parties involved before being deprived of water starting April 1.
“That part was encouraging,” said Executive Director Jennifer Scheer of the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau who also reiterated her dismay with water officials for giving such short notice to farmers and notifying them via automated phone message.
Moser explained that water officials anticipate even tougher times with the drought expecting to continue throughout the summer months. Therefore, all water surface users who have another source of water – such as a ground water well – need to stop tapping the CVP right away.
The water system starts at San Luis Reservoir, where the Pacheco Pumping Plant is used to pump water into the Santa Clara Conduit. The water then flows to the Coyote Pumping Plant that feeds into the CVP. Further north, the CVP connects to the Almaden Valley Pipeline that pours into the Santa Teresa, Rinconada and Penitenicia Water Treatment Plants.
According to the SCVWD, there are 62 surface water accounts in South County that are hooked up to the pipeline, including 25 agricultural and 37 municipal or industrial. Nearly all of users in North County are municipal or industrial, including seven Bay Area golf courses such Cinnabar Hills in San Jose.
“We’re doing everything we can to get water into the County,” Moser assured the farmers, noting that the San Luis Reservoir – where the SCVWD imports water through the CVP – is dangerously low.
If it gets any lower, they will be unable to pump water from San Luis altogether, Moser added. She also noted that the distinct officials are trying to negotiate water exchanges, but it has been a tough task due to water quality.
At Chiala Farms, Teresi would likely abandon planting peppers on 200 acres of land because of the surface water shutdown. However, the vast Chiala agricultural operation uses well water on other acreage for different crops.
Ranch Manager Janet Burback of her family’s Tilton Ranch in unincorporated Morgan Hill also attended Thursday’s impromptu meeting. Burback explained how she has already cut back her cattle herd by 20 percent and will be down 50 percent if the drought continues as expected.
“It’s going to take me four years just to build back 10 percent,” said Burback, who has run into difficulty finding any other water resources to fill the springs and natural water on her land.
“Everybody in this room who is a farmer, what we lose, it’s going to take us years (to recover),” she continued. “We are a food source for everybody else. So remember when your shutting us off, we’re feeding you guys, besides ourselves.”
Sheer questioned why there are still green lawns throughout residential areas of the county, while SCVWD Board Trustee Dennis Kennedy wondered why he recently saw a McDonald’s employee hosing down the restaurant’s parking lot at the same time that water officials are threatening to turn off water supply to farmers.
Water officials asked the 40 or so attendees to sign in with their contact information so they could be in touch with them in the coming days to help find a solution to each individual problem.
“You have become very dependent on this water,” said SCVWD official Jim Feeder, who wanted to make clear to everyone that there will be “limited supplies going forward” and that all alternatives must be explored.
The next SCVWD Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for March 25 at 6 p.m.
