State regulators proposed a $1.5-million fine Monday against a Northern California irrigation district for “unauthorized diversion and use of water” — the first enforcement action of its kind against a senior water rights holder.
The State Water Resources Control Board issued a draft complaint alleging that the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District diverted water for nearly two weeks last month after being told it was not entitled to do so, the board said in a statement.
The district serves Mountain House, a master-planned community of 15,000 residents in San Joaquin County. Residents and officials there feared that the state’s curtailments — the first in nearly 40 years against holders of water rights granted before 1914 — would cause taps to run dry.