The California State Water Resources Control Board has withdrawn “Term 91”conditions on the
federal operating license for EID’s Project 184 hydroelectric power generation system. “This means that the District can exercise its rights to water that will help meet customer needs, especially in the summer months when we
need water the most,” said EID General Counsel Tom Cumpston. EID is now working with the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to make sure the Term 91 conditions are removed from the license the
Commission granted EID last month.
EID acquired Project 184 from Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1999. Since then the District has upgraded the system to meet federal and state standards, and on October 18thFERC granted EID a 40-year operating license that included Term 91 conditions, which the District contended were not lawful. A September 8th ruling of the California Third District Court of Appeals had already agreed with EID’s position. According to Cumpston the EID Board of Directors is committed to supplying reliable supplies of top-quality water to the district, but Term 91 would have impaired their ability to do so.
In 1927, California lawmakers reserved water rights for areas like El Dorado County so that the export of large quantities of water would not deny “areas of origin” the water they would need for their futures. In 1991, EID asked the State Water Resources Control Board to honor that commitment, and the Board awarded the District rights to 17,000 acre-feet of water in the Project 184 system. However, the State Board also said that EID’s use of those water rights would be limited by Term 91 restrictions, promulgated in the 1970s, some 50 years after the 1927legislation. The restrictions would limit use of the water whenever reservoirs in the Central Valley Project and State Water Project are drawn down to meet Delta water quality requirements. This often occurs during warm, dry periods. “The appellate court’s decision made it clear that it was unfair to burden EID’s 1927 priority water rights with Term 91 when literally hundreds of junior water rights holders are not similarly limited,” states Cumpston.
EID Seeks an End to Boating on Silver Lake
The El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) has passed a resolution asking the Amador County Board of Supervisors to ban personal watercraft on Silver Lake. The lake is part of EID’s Project 184 hydropower system, but is actually located in Amador County, where that Board has authority over the lake’s uses. EID claims it received more than 130 letters regarding Silver Lake, although it’s unclear from their press release what issues of concern exist. A taskforce will study the situation and include stakeholder groups to discuss, among other issues, boating speed limits.
