At this point, he said, he uses about 30 percent of his land for farming and 70 percent for water. Number one, the settlement agreement between Angiola and Lower Tule/Pixley irrigation districts wont allow Angiola or Sandridge to move the water out of Kings County. (Vidovich said he didnt think Sandridge had hit 100,000 acres, total, yet.). Sunridge Partners provides patient capital, deep industry expertise and a hands-on approach to achieving outsized returns for all stakeholders. SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit news site dedicated to covering water in the San Joaquin Valley. gcse.src = 'https://cse.google.com/cse.js?cx=' + cx; Farmers in the heart of Californias agricultural belt Kings County sense something is awry with their water supplies. He became more involved with De Anza, working with his dad, whom he describes as bigger than life.. When pressed, though, they acknowledged it could be done. Vidovich and a co-defendant were found guilty in 2014 of conspiracy to breach a land sale contract and ordered to pay nearly $130 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Legendary Valley Thoroughbred Elected to Racing Hall of Fame, Collision Ends Smyly Perfect Game Bid, Cubs Top Dodgers 13-0, Analysis He certainly looks the part in his well-worn jeans and checkered shirts. SGMA refers to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act passed in 2014 that mandates water basins be in balance by 2040. s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s); The GSAs are supposed to set pumping limits to stop overdraft. A new groundwater ordinance approved Nov. 29 by the Kings County Board of Supervisors could put the county in the middle of a water war being waged by its two largest farming entities, the J.G. However, Vidovichs comments do not address whether all the river and groundwater is being used in Kings County or sent elsewhere a question that has become nearly impossible to answer. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. No way, according to Vidovich and his longtime associates. That said, she explained the department would be looking closely at groundwater pumping and water transfers from Kings County, because it appears this is a hot spot where the math doesnt work.. gcse.async = true; Less surface water forces growers to pay for deeper wells or additional water supplies particularly expensive during one of the worst droughts in recent state history. Its an unusual letter and I was surprised to see it, Chrissakis added. 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It agreed to pay Pixley/Lower Tule $240,000 a year to bring in federal water to recharge the groundwater. Through Sandridge, Vidovich owns about 130,000 acres with 38,500 acres in Kern, 82,000 acres in Kings, 9,500 acres in Tulare and 300 acres in Fresno county, per ParcelQuest. He ran, unsuccessfully for city council in his hometown of Los Altos Hills in 2006. EDMUND JOHN VIDOVICH Lake Havasu City, Arizona Trinitas Partners LLC Investment Management . The fight between the Tulare Lake Canal Company, controlled by the J.G. Pace farmed in the valley and partnered with Vidovich for a while. But a pipeline, which Vidovich is allowed to build under the Semitropic agreement, could span that distance. state water?) The judge on Thursday may find in Sandridges favor as she already issued a tentative ruling last week which noted that, The use of the heavy equipment to stop the pipe project is not a protected tactic under the law.. Boswell repeatedly declined requests for interviews on this story. That could trigger intervention by the State Water Resources Control Board, SGMAs enforcement arm. Or even to the great water bogeyman that haunts so many valley farmers Los Angeles? Boswell has employed generations of Kings County families, mostly in the small town of Corcoran where a high school stadium and park bear the Boswell name. The agencys role is simply to review groundwater plans to see if theyre adequate. Are they in the wrong for moving water? The idea of capturing Kings River floodwaters isnt new. Groundwater and floodwater are two very different things. It specifically set aside $2.7 billion for water storage projects. Absolutely not. The comment letter from the Southwest Kings GSA, which Vidovich said he wrote the draft for, notes that subsidence from over pumping has been a large and ongoing problem in the Tulare Lake subbasin and the plan submitted to the state simply doesnt do enough to stem that downward trajectory. He bought his first Kings County property in a foreclosure in 1994 and eventually amassed 102,000 acres in Kings as well as nearly 40,000 acres in Kern County, 10,000 in Tulare County and 1,700 in Fresno County, according to ParcelQuest. After all, Vidovich, water and pipelines have a history in Kings County. Sandridge filed for a restraining order. Boswell and Vidovich also find themselves on opposite sides of whether the Kings River is being fully utilized by all of its rights holders. Those are just some of the indirect costs attached to moving large amounts of water out of a region, Zetland said. Karen isnt the only one who feels this way. Bigger landowners hold contracts for most of the state water brought to Kings from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and they own large portions of the private ditch companies that divvy up the Kings River water and ferry it to farms. The little guy is gone, said Walker, the walnut farmer. Before we go much further, you should probably know a little more about Vidovich. Page said Vidovich is a tough businessman but thats all. His nephew spun the company into a $2.5 billion international farming and development powerhouse. Mitchell agreed, giving Vidovich credit for seeing where groundwater laws were headed before anyone else. Its not true, he wants to farm.. 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Previously, Ben spent three years working with Boston Consulting Group as a Senior Associate in London and Melbourne. In addition to inshell and raw . SJV Water is a nonprofit, independent online news publication covering water in the San Joaquin Valley. But those numbers reflect full contracted allocations. Even if he has access to the California Aqueduct, Vidovich would have to jump through a lot of state hoops to move water independently of Semitropic. Second, Im a farmer, Vidovich says. Water, Latest SunnyGem is the one-stop-shop for your almond needs, packing and shipping California varieties worldwide. But the letter continued to intrigue Chrissakis. A 2020 groundwater sustainability report shows that over the previous five years, agriculture in Kings County relied on an average of about 319,000 acre feet from local rivers and streams, 475,000 acre feet from groundwater and just 37,000 acre feet of state water. Court Says Boswell's Heavy Equipment Can Block Pipeline Project for Now He tried to get the county to pass an ordinance barring the export of native groundwater but said he could not get enough votes. Ghana Business News - The first place for your business news. When asked if he applies the skills he learned in his military intelligence training to his life today, he answers that we all use the things we learn through life. Water from Angiola Water District will also be moved in the line, according to a declaration by Angiola General Manager Mark Grewal. Though Boswell and Vidovich both have access to large shares of water, their relationship over this precious resource is downright antagonistic. Exactly how much is moving and who is benefitting from it are more murky questions, as water especially river and groundwater in California is notoriously hard to track. Thats true of the entire San Joaquin Valley, where he said farmings footprint is retracting because of pumping restrictions looming under the states new groundwater law. You may have never heard of John Vidovich, but his impact on the day-to-day life of the average southern San Joaquin Valley farmer is difficult to be understated. Thats fine for a farming operation the size of Sandridge or Boswell, but smaller growers cant afford to let that much ground go unplanted. If we had water transfers that we know dont mesh with an approved groundwater sustainability plan, thats going to be a problem for DWRs continued approval of those transfers, Nemeth said, adding that the department will be reevaluating its transfer program to add greater oversight and transparency.
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October 2nd - 4th, 2020