Wednesday January 8, 2025
Shasta Scout —
The traumatic memory of California’s devastating 2022 drought is back on the minds of Shasta County irrigators. Members of the Board of the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District (ACID) told water users a few weeks ago that they’ll decide in January whether to sign a federal Drought Protection Program (DPP) agreement that would reduce ACID’s water rights in “critically dry” years while providing funds for infrastructure improvements.
On the evening of December 19, water users and ACID Board members filled a spacious veterans’ hall in Anderson to hear about the DPP from four professionals who work in different aspects of irrigation. Those experts included the Oroville–based water rights attorney who represents ACID, Dustin Cooper; the Executive Director of the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors (SRSC), Thaddeus Bettner; a drought operations engineer named Anne Williams; and the ACID’s current General Manager, Daniel Ruiz.
The DPP is the product of long-term negotiations between the federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors (SRSC), a group of Sacramento Valley water contractors that includes ACID. For the last year, Board members Ronnean Lund and Dan Woolery, along with approximately 30 other SRSC-connected engineering consultants, attorneys, and irrigation district managers have participated in an SRSC working group related to the DPP.