East San Joaquin Valley growers are suing state water authorities over drought decisions, claiming east-side communities and farms got no federal water after the state illegally denied deliveries to a separate group of landowners with senior water rights.
The Friant Water Authority, representing 15,000 growers who buy water from Millerton Lake and irrigate 1 million acres from Chowchilla to Bakersfield, is asking the court to prevent the scenario from happening again.
Friant officials say the state board’s orders allowed the State Water Project and wildlife refuges to “leap-frog” over senior water rights holders on the Valley’s west side to get water. The west-siders are known as the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors, whose water rights date back to the 1800s.
Lawyer Jennifer Buckman, representing Friant, said the state’s orders had the effect of putting birds on the refuges ahead of people in small east-side communities such as Orange Cove, Terra Bella, Lindsay and Strathmore. Water for federal refuge acreage near Los Banos is provided through a 1992 reform law, called the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. But farm water leaders say historic rights holders have the higher priority.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/10/28/4203314_farmers-sue-state-over-drought.html?sp=/99/406/263/&rh=1