California water regulators order farmers to stop pumping from river

California water regulators ordered a group of farmers Thursday to stop pumping water from the a branch of the San Joaquin River amid an ongoing battle over how much power the state has to protect waterways that are going dry during its drought.

 

The State Water Resources Control board issued the cease and desist order against an irrigation district in California’s Central Valley filled with agriculture-rich lands. The board said it had failed to obey a previous warning to stop pumping, which could be followed by hefty fines.

 

The action against the West Side Irrigation District in Tracy could be the first of many as farmers, cities and corporations dig in to protect water rights that were secured long before people began flooding the West and have remained all but immune from mandatory curtailments.

 

“I’ve made investments as a farmer based on the rule of law,” said David Phippen, an almond grower in the South San Joaquin Irrigation District. “Now, somebody’s changing the law that we depend on.”

 

Phippen said his grandfather paid a premium price for hundreds of acres in the 1930s because it came with ironclad senior water rights. He said he takes those rights to the bank when he needs loans to replant almond orchards or install new irrigation lines. Phippen fears that state officials are tampering with a system that has worked for years.

 

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