Redding seeks to buy ACID canal water

The City of Redding may become a long-term customer of the Anderson Cottonwood Irrigation District (ACID). Disscusion over terms of a sale of water was held in closed session last month between the city and ACID board of directors.

Redding seeks additional sources of water to support future municipal growth, according to a 2008 Letter of Intent between the two agencies.

"We have ample water rights for current (needs)," City of Redding Director of Municipal Utilities Barry Tippin said in a telephone interview Wednesday, adding that the extra water could be a benefit 15 to 20 years from now.

Each year the ACID diverts 121,000 acre-feet of water from the Sacramento river through the ACID canal. With its roots in a pre-1914 Bureau of Reclamation agreement to irrigate pasture and farm land, the district continues to draw water but for a dwindling clientele.

As more agricultural land is converted to urban uses, the ACID has seen its customers dwindle and its accompanying profits shrink, especially in the last 20 years, said Wangberg, who stepped in as director in 2005. As such, he said the district must seek alternative uses for water beyond irrigation.

With southern portions of Redding overlapping the ACID service area in the regions of South Bonnyview at Highway 273 and also in Churn Creek Bottom, the city represents one of the few large agencies ACID can sell its base supply of water to, ACID Director Stan Wangberg said.

"We are a water district, our purpose is the provision of water," Wangberg said.

The city requested 4,000 acre-feet of ACID water per year, which makes up 3.3 percent of ACID's 121,000 acre-feet base supply, Wangberg said.

Would the usage of water take away from ACID's agricultural customers?

Wangberg said the ACID irrigates its customers' property while allowing itself an 8 percent reserve. The ACID is not compensated by the bureau for whatever portion of that reserve isn't diverted, he added.

Therefore, ACID can profit by selling a portion of the reserve. With the extra funding, Wangberg said the district could continue capital improvements, such as pipeline replacement and repairs to the leaking flume in Anderson. Additionally, Wangberg said the new revenue stream helps counter the district's declining revenues from the conversion of agricultural land.