A trillion acre-feet of water? Trinity County water diverters to pay $10,000 for lax reports

The California State Water Resources Control Board approved a $10,000 settlement last month after two property owners were accused of deliberately making years’ worth of false water diversion reports.

Louis and Darcy Chacon own property by Price Creek in Trinity County, a tributary of the Trinity River, and were accused of knowingly inflating their reported amounts of creek water usage, according to a news release issued Thursday by the control board.

The Chacons, who use the creek water for crop irrigation, stock watering and domestic use, are said to have reported using or storing more than 1 trillion acre-feet monthly between 2009 and 2013, according to the release. A trillion acre-feet of water would be roughly all of the Earth’s available freshwater, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

After being notified of a reporting violation, the Chacons revised their reports to reflect usages of about 21,000 acre-feet per month, which the control board deemed “orders of magnitude greater than reasonable” in its release. The Chacons continued these reporting patterns between 2014 and 2015, according to the release.

“This settlement sends a strong message to individuals who trivialize this important reporting requirement by declaring deliberate misstatements about actual water used,” assistant deputy director of the Division of Water Rights, Permitting and Enforcement Branch Jule Rizzardo said in the release. “Inaccurate water use data impacts the division’s ability to effectively regulate water diversions and undermines the public’s trust in the water rights system. In high resource value watersheds like the Trinity River, accurate data is essential to ensuring senior water rights and the environment are protected.”

The Chacons may reduce their fine by up to $7,500 by hiring an expert to advise on future reporting, revising their inaccurate usage reports and installing a water diversion measuring device, according to the release.

This story was originally published December 27, 2018 at 5:42 PM.