California Ranchers Face Fines For Pumping Water To Livestock
A group of northern California ranchers face fines from the state’s water officials for violating orders to cut back their water use during a weeklong standoff in August.
State officials plan to impose a $4,000 fine on Siskiyou County ranchers who pumped water from the Shasta River for eight days in defiance of an emergency state order. For the 80 ranchers who participated, the fine amounts to $50 each. The state said the pumping threatened the river’s water quality and its salmon and other rare species.
The meager fine is not much of a deterrent to prevent illegal water diversions and the ranchers say it was the cheapest option they had to keep their livestock watered. The drought has created a financial burden as many ranchers have been forced to haul both water and hay to their animals.
The penalty - $500 per day for eight days of pumping – is the maximum the State Water Resources Control Board could seek from the ranchers who are members of the Shasta River Water Association. The proposed fine requires a 20-day waiting period or a hearing before it is final.
Julé Rizzardo, the water board’s assistant deputy director of permitting and enforcement for the division of water rights, told CalMatters the agency’s powers are limited.
“Unfortunately, there are circumstances such as this where the economic gains that folks can get by violating curtailment orders are greater than the potential penalties available to us,” Rizzardo said.
The state’s water code allows for fines larger than $500 per day, but only after the water board finalizes a cease and desist order. State officials say the ranchers shut their pumps off well before the penalty would have jumped to $10,000 per day.
