NORTHSTATE, Calif. — From zero water, to too much water: the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District (ACID) saw their canal flood on Tuesday from the heavy rainfall.
Of course, the ACID canal was mostly dried up last year, so these conditions are a complete 180 from what residents had been dealing with. Plenty of ACID customers are frustrated flooding occurred, with some blaming the district for putting them in a unusual position by selling their limited water supply in 2022, leaving the canal unprepared for such an influx of water.
KRCR’s Sam Chimenti spoke with ACID’s General Manager on Wednesday and he clarified some of the frustrations people have.
“ACID’s irrigation season, or the time in which we can divert water from the Sacramento River, is April 1 to October 31,” explained first-year GM Jered Shipley. “We cannot introduce water into our system via our contractor by any other means outside of that window. So, any and all of the water that folks saw first in the canal, and then overtopping the canal, was from up-slope storm runoff.”
Shipley says the canal, inadvertently, acts as a “catch basin” for water. As soon as the district noticed the canal’s inability to handle the water flowing in, local contractors were called in to help. And Shipley applauded the overall relief effort by both city and county officials on Tuesday, saying a collective team effort was needed to manage the flooding.
In spite of the flooding concerns, the extensive wet weather has set ACID up well for the summer months.
“We’re gearing up for a successful irrigation season,” Shipley said. “We intend to have that 100% allocation stick, at this point in time.”
See the original article here.
