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OROVILLE - State and federal water agencies are gearing up to buy water rights along Butte Creek as part of a pilot project to study how increased water flows at certain times of the year help fish. Campbell Ingram of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, briefed the Butte County Water Commission on the program Tuesday at its monthly meeting. How much water will ultimately be bought and from whom has yet to be decided. Butte Creek is one of five in the first tier of the program, including Clear Creek, Mill Creek, Deer Creek and the Tuolumne River. In the future the goal will be to buy water in 15 or so tributaries of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, possibly for up to 100,000 acre-feet a year during times of important fish passage. Players include CalFed, Fish and Wildlife, the National Marine Fisheries Service and California Department of Fish and Game. Ingram said the goal is to work with water rights holders who are willing to take part and come up with deals over the next year. Butte Creek is on the list of first priorities because there has already been a lot of investment along the waterway and data has been gathered on existing conditions. He said he wasn't sure how much water they would be talking about, perhaps 40 cubic feet a second, which equals about two acre-feet a day. It's early yet in the program, but Ingram said the program might buy options for the water and use it at key times, such as for a month when fish are having a tough time making it up a waterways to spawn. Funding for the program comes from money set aside in 1998 by the Secretary of Interior. The program might also be aided by bond funds. Part of the program will be monitoring to see how certain amounts of water in the creeks benefit fish. Scientist already have ideas about how the environment is aided by different water levels, but there hasn't been the type of study that is proposed in the upcoming program. One of the next steps will be to form a panel to engage locals in the process, Ingram said. Butte Creek starts in the Lassen Nation Forest, winds its way through Butte Meadows, through Butte Creek Canyon, and joins with the Sacramento River at the Butte Slough southeast of Colusa. The program for the creek is different than the Environmental Water Account. The EWA, run through the Department of Water Resources, buys water for storage at a reservoir in San Luis. This water is used to keep water flowing to the southern part of the state when huge pumps in the Delta cannot be used during times of key fish passage, Ingram explained. In other Water Commission news, Water and Resource Conservation director Ed Craddock said the county is looking into groundwater recharge. The county currently has entitlement of up to 27,500 acre-feet of water each year from Lake Oroville but currently uses very little of it. One idea is to use that water for groundwater recharge in areas where the aquifer fills up. The science is not yet completed to determine exactly where these key recharge areas are located, but the county is getting closer on this information. Water commissioner Mike Pierce said its important to pinpoint these recharge areas before they are developed and lost forever. Commissioner Mike McEnepsy said he wasn't sold on the idea. He said it seemed like it should be a land use planning issue. He said he didn't like the idea of the county being in a position where they could store and sell groundwater. Chico Enterprise Record - Copyright Policy
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