After months of debilitating drought caused by federal water cuts and local water sales, the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District may be receiving up to $3.6 million in federal drought relief funds.
Court documents and interviews with government officials indicate that the federal water cuts that have caused devastation within the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District (A.C.I.D.) weren’t a breach of the water district’s senior water rights contract. Instead, A.C.I.D. and other water contractors negotiated and agreed to the reduction in water allocations as part of an interagency effort to protect endangered salmon during California’s historic drought.
After its driest three-year stretch on record, California braces for another year with below-average snow and rain. Conditions are shaping up to be a “recipe for drought.”
Anderson Cottonwood Irrigation District has supplied water to irrigators in Shasta County for more than 100 years. This year, after federal cuts and local water sales, residents have been left without water. Here's how ACID responded to federal cuts, what options they considered for the district's remaining water allocations, and how they plan to use the $7.5 million gained by selling off the district's remaining water.
As residents of the county's A.C.I.D. service area fight to survive the lack of water in their district the county has released updated eligibility guidelines for county administration of state drought relief funds. Residents with a larger range of incomes are now eligible for home water delivery services for up to two years.
This year, after the federal government severely reduced water allocations to the Anderson Cottonwood Irrigation District (A.C.I.D.), the board of A.C.I.D. sold off the rest of the district’s allocated water, saying it would not travel far enough through the system to benefit residents. The board appears to be still holding the $7.5 million in revenue from those water sales. Meanwhile, some residents of A.C.I.D. are struggling to access enough water for their daily living needs. They’re confused, angry, and wondering where to find help to survive.
The Winnemem Wintu Tribe are part of a larger coalition that's petitioning California to correct water management plans they say harm the Pacific coast’s largest estuary and its surrounding communities. They connect today's disastrous conditions in the Delta to California’s legacy of discriminatory and anti-Indigenous water policies.
The Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to "surplus" approximately 45 acres of land including the Redding Rodeo grounds and Redding Civic Auditorium grounds in preparation for a potential sale. Legal Counsel for three local environmental groups say doing so would violate the California Environmental Quality Act and be inconsistent with the city’s own General Plan.
From Indigenous sacred site protectors and former hippies to Trump supporters and conservative Christians, an eclectic Intermountain community collaborated last year to resist the proposed $300 million Fountain Wind energy project. Several key organizers talked to Shasta Scout about what the coalition’s story means for the future of the region and alternate energy.
A series of public workshops, surveys and social media posts by the city haven’t reassured many community members that they’re being included in the riverfront planning process. Shasta Scout looked at how the city’s process compares with best practices in community engagement.
