Merced supervisors to discuss emergency groundwater moratorium

“Moratorium” is a word no one wants to hear amid the third year of a crippling drought, but it’s going to come up Tuesday as the Board of Supervisors considers temporarily stopping groundwater exports and the construction of new wells.

The idea of a groundwater moratorium was introduced by District 4 Supervisor Deidre Kelsey last week after the supervisors voted unanimously to put off the adoption of a groundwater ordinance. The ordinance would use a permitting process to oversee groundwater transfers and exports – water being pumped from Merced County and moved outside county boundaries – in addition to new well construction.

But after working on the ordinance for seven months, the Board of Supervisors hit the brakes last week, voting to continue the item until next year. The decision also sent the ordinance back to a stakeholder committee for further discussion.

County administrators said a series of last-minute letters and comments from stakeholders prompted the delay. Three letters of concern were received, but a county official said the suggestions were “thoughtful” enough to postpone the ordinance.

“Some suggested changes were made. We have not had the opportunity to analyze them in detail,” said County Executive Officer Jim Brown during a previous interview. “They were thoughtful and substantive enough that the board decided to send it back to the stakeholder group for review.

Because of the short timeline, officials said a stakeholder meeting wouldn’t happen until the first of the year. Then the draft groundwater ordinance requires two public hearings, and if adopted, would go into effect 30 days later.

That delay means people are continuing to export and sell water out of Merced County in the interim, Kelsey said. This prompted the supervisor to suggest an emergency moratorium to stop such groundwater transfers until Merced County adopts a permanent ordinance.

“I feel that at our next meeting we really should look at a moratorium on groundwater exports immediately ... because we’re not addressing that issue while we’re fine-tuning this thing,” Kelsey said at the Dec. 9 board meeting. “With the continued export of water out of our area, I still feel it’s important. I’ve heard a lot of stories in the last few months.”

Kelsey said an emergency groundwater moratorium could be short term, for either 60 days or 90 days, but it would temporarily stop out-of-county exports. “So that people are put on notice,” she said, “you just can’t run out there and pay the biggest bucks to get your well-drilling operation in there and start working. It’s a concern.”

The Board of Supervisors will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the board’s chamber on the third floor of the Merced County Administration Building, 2222 M St.

This story was originally published December 15, 2014 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Merced supervisors to discuss emergency groundwater moratorium."