AquAlliance Executive Director Barbara Vlamis
was quoted in the Los Angeles Times (Dec. 2, 2023):

See the full article by Staff Writer Ian James in the Los Angeles Times

“You put in the infrastructure, you start taking over the groundwater basin for private profit, and it changes everything… It becomes this economic engine for these people that want to take over ownership.”

Vlamis argued the area’s current overuse of groundwater, which is not as severe as other parts of the Central Valley, could easily be addressed through conservation, estimating that if growers would save about 5%, that would be enough.

Vlamis said banking water would require a drawdown of the aquifer to create storage space, which would diminish the flow of streams, threaten groundwater-dependent trees and put shallow domestic wells at risk of running dry.

“I think it is a damaging effort that could potentially destroy this region as we know it.”

Even though Tuscan Water District supporters say they do not intend to transfer water out of the area and have restrictions in place to insure that the water stays local, Vlamis said the district’s bylaws could easily be changed to allow for water to be moved out of the area, and the county ordinance simply outlines a procedure that would have to be followed. 

“Even if that’s not their intention, to transfer water out of here, all it takes is an emergency proclamation by the governor, and all local ordinances and everything are thrown out,” Vlamis said. “You may have honorable intentions, but once the state wants more water, and you’ve put in the infrastructure to facilitate this, all bets are off.”

Vlamis said she’s convinced there is a longstanding interest among state and federal water officials to “integrate” the county’s groundwater into the state’s supplies, allowing for water to be transferred out of the area.

See the full article by Staff Writer Ian James in the Los Angeles Times