Setting a standard for agricultural water use

North Livermore serves as model for integrating land and water use

In 2000, when Alameda County voters passed Measure D, the Alameda County Open Space Initiative, the Livermore agricultural community had some concerns.

The initiative was not anti-agriculture - it made North Livermore off-limits for urban development and therefore, at least implicitly, made agriculture the main land use there - but the agricultural community needed to understand not only how it might affect its land use, but also how the Sierra Club, which had led the campaign for Measure D, would react to proposals for developing a more adequate water supply.

As a result, leaders from the Sierra Club and the Livermore community sat down together for an extended series of discussions to hammer out a set of principles to guide water development in the Tri-Valley area. The Bay Chapter was pleased to open this discussion.

Why work with farmers?

Environmentalists support ecologically sound farming, and politically we want farmers to work with us for environmental protection, not to be worrying about how land-use regulations might limit their options.

More generally, agriculture is a critical tool for preserving open space. Agricultural lands provide greenery, soil rather than pavement, and substantial wildlife habitat.

Local agriculture near urban areas provides a local food supply that does not have to be trucked hundreds or thousands of miles to market. It thus reduces energy use and air pollution, and could be invaluable during emergencies.

Local agriculture can provide a niche for small family farms, which are usually better stewards of the land than big agribusiness. Such farms are more likely to be organic or to minimize use of toxic chemicals and to preserve genetic diversity by growing heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables. Such diversity is an essential resource to protect against blights that might attack more commonly grown cultivars, and is a source of genetic variation for plant development, whether through genetic engineering or more traditional techniques.

The principles themselves

For Measure D to be successful, there have to be viable economic uses for the lands outside the Urban Growth Boundary. Agriculture is generally the only suitable use. In North Livermore this generally means viticulture, olive production, or grazing. Grapes and olives are high-value crops that can be grown economically here, but they require additional water. That's the need that the principles were designed to address.

The Sierra Club supports protecting agricultural lands in Alameda County and can support expansion of agricultural activities in areas where the risk of environmental harm is minimal.

The Sierra Club's principles on agricultural water development proposals include the following.

Agricultural operations and agricultural water facilities must conform to a local land use plan that protects habitat, wildlife corridors, and surface and groundwater quality.
Agricultural water systems must not be developed or used in ways that harm land, air, or water.
If any irrigation water is subsidized, land-owners must place permanent conservation easements on any property receiving that subsidy.
Water shall be acquired through transfer of pre-existing rights, not through the development of new water sources.

The full text of the principles

Sierra Club S. F. Bay Chapter Principles Regarding Agricultural Water Development in the East Alameda County Tri-Valley Area

The purpose of this statement is to clarify the intent of the Sierra Club's position with regard to Agricultural Water Development in Alameda County. The Sierra Club supports protecting agriculture and agricultural lands in Alameda County and can support expansion of agricultural activities in areas where the risk of environmental harm is minimal. The environmental benefits accruing from expanded agricultural operations can include:

A viable economic alternative to urbanization (i.e., preventing sprawl and leapfrog development)
Opportunities for local growers to produce goods for local consumption, thus minimizing the need to transport food from more distant locations and providing opportunities for local residents to become more connected with and appreciative of their sources of food supply
An ability of local residents to provide greater oversight of the methods by which their food is produced
Agriculture can be habitat more compatible for wildlife than urban land
Land use diversity for the community

Expanded agricultural development should be considered as one component of a package of land protection alternatives that also includes restrictions on harmful development, voluntary acquisition of properties in fee title by public and private conservation agencies (park districts, land trusts, etc.), voluntary purchase or donation of conservation easements on undeveloped land, transfer of development credits to existing urbanized areas, and other appropriate mechanisms.

The Sierra Club may endorse and actively advocate for an agricultural water development proposal or plan if the following conditions are substantially met.

1. Agricultural operations and agricultural water storage facilities must conform to a local land use plan that protects habitat, wildlife corridors and surface and groundwater quality, and complies with best management practices for agriculture. Any non-agricultural uses that are typically supportive of an agricultural region must also conform to a local land use plan that protects habitat, wildlife corridors and surface and groundwater quality.
2. Agricultural water and associated infrastructure to supply that water cannot be used for agricultural uses and facilities that produce significant impacts to land, air or water, e.g., concentrated animal feeding lots.
Reasonable assurances against such uses are needed as a condition of approval of agricultural water development.
3. If new taxpayer or ratepayer funds are used to lower substantially the cost of agricultural irrigation to the end user, permanent conservation easements must be included on any property receiving that subsidy. Easements shall be written to preserve the agricultural and habitat values of the property receiving subsidized water.
Non-agricultural and recreational commercial uses allowed by County Measure D (2000) or by the Livermore UGB Initiative of 2002, if applicable, cannot be subsidized.
4. Property owners who place easements on their property may sell their water rights to other landowners but only for purposes consistent with their easements; that is, the subsequent buyer of the water rights must place a comparable easement on the property.
5. Mitigation funds or land exchanges that may be required as a condition for water infrastructure development approvals shall be targeted to areas of significant environmental importance and need.
6. Adequate protection for local groundwater basins and underground water supplies shall be demonstrated. Groundwater quality may not be compromised. Groundwater must not be used faster than it can be replenished by normal recharge, and must be preserved in sufficient quantity and quality so as not to reduce the availability of water for public municipal water systems and private domestic water wells in drought years.
7. Water shall be acquired through transfer of pre-existing rights so as not to further impact out-of-basin environments.