The Tuolumne Utilities District signed a long-term agreement with the federal government Thursday giving it the right to purchase up to 6,000 acre-feet of water annually from New Melones Reservoir, with the allocation shared with the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California. The agreement follows nearly 60 years of effort, dating to a 1968 protest by one of TUD’s predecessor agencies against the Bureau of Reclamation’s water-rights application to build the dam and reservoir.
According to The Union Democrat, the agreement was signed at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Region 10 California-Great Basin office, with TUD Board President Jeff Hollis signing alongside Adam Nickels, the bureau's principal deputy regional director, in Sacramento. Of the total allocation, TUD can purchase up to 2,500 acre-feet annually — up to 500 acre-feet for municipal and industrial use and another 2,000 acre-feet for agriculture — while the Chicken Ranch Tribe's share includes 600 acre-feet for municipal and industrial use and 2,900 acre-feet for agriculture, for a combined 3,500 acre-feet.
The agreement is a purchase option, not a free or guaranteed annual supply. TUD must pay for the water and the electricity to pump it into the district’s system, and charges apply only when water is drawn. The district’s October fiscal analysis estimated costs of $54 per acre-foot for municipal and industrial use and $39 per acre-foot for agriculture, plus roughly $250 per acre-foot for pumping electricity. Those figures do not include potential operating expenses or pump-station upgrades that the analysis said could cost millions of dollars.
Why TUD Needed a Backup Plan
TUD relies heavily on Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s Main Tuolumne Canal system for the bulk of its water, a system that the Union Democrat has reported supplies about 95% of the district's water in a separate article tracking the contract's progress toward completion. That dependence became a real problem last winter, when heavy storms damaged portions of the Main Tuolumne Canal and forced the district to rely on limited supplies in storage tanks and open-air ditches for more than two weeks. TUD officials have described New Melones water as an emergency backup and a way to improve reliability during droughts or other disruptions, rather than a primary source.
How New Melones Fits TUD’s Water System
TUD’s 2020 Urban Water Management Plan describes Lyons Reservoir and Pinecrest Lake as another part of the district’s supply system. The two reservoirs store 23,500 acre-feet and are normally drawn down to about 20% of capacity each year, according to the plan.
New Melones also serves purposes beyond water supply. The Bureau of Reclamation says the reservoir is operated for water supply, flood control, power generation, fishery enhancement and water-quality improvement in the lower San Joaquin River. The bureau reports that dry conditions during the 1987–1992 drought limited increased releases from the reservoir. That past operating constraint is not a forecast of the water available under TUD’s new contract, whose annual availability may vary.
The full 6,000 acre-feet may not be available every year; TUD’s account says the amount could shrink because of drought and other conditions. In a TUD news release, Don Perkins said the agreement will enhance water-supply reliability and resilience, adding that reliable water supports public health, fire protection, homes, businesses, agriculture and the local economy. Board President Jeff Hollis said the agreement gives TUD another option to protect water reliability and quality of life.
Decades of Dead-End Negotiations
The district’s chronology records earlier attempts to secure New Melones water. TUD’s predecessor and the Bureau of Reclamation began negotiating a contract for 3,200 acre-feet in 1982, but no agreement was signed because the yield was considered too uncertain. Talks over a proposed 9,000 acre-feet per year also ended without a deal in 1992 because the bureau could not guarantee TUD a firm yield. Three draft contracts came out of those efforts, but none was executed.
TUD formally requested the long-term water service contract that led to Thursday’s signing in 2019. In January 2023, the district and the Chicken Ranch Tribe entered a cost-sharing agreement to pursue the supply jointly. TUD’s board approved environmental review documents at a public meeting on Oct. 27. The district’s board agenda packet says TUD acted as lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act and adopted a Negative Declaration that day before entering the contract.
What the Water Means for the Chicken Ranch Tribe
For the Chicken Ranch Tribe, the push for a dependable supply traces back to a severe drought that prompted tribal leaders to seek a more dependable long-term water source after repeated concerns about running out of water, according to Stephanie Suess. The tribe hopes to expand agricultural activities on reacquired land near Jamestown, with the Suchumumu Tribal Farm cited as an example of a planned project, and it aims eventually to become less dependent on TUD's water system altogether. Suess said tribal leaders are weighing the decision with an eye toward seven generations ahead.
The contract itself is expected to run through Dec. 31, 2051, with the possibility of a 25-year renewal after that. The pump station TUD already has in place at New Melones is capable of conveying approximately 3,100 gallons per minute into the Columbia Ditch, according to the district's board agenda packet, though officials have indicated that further upgrades may be needed to make full use of the new allocation. For a county whose water rights history includes the 1943 California County of Origin Act — intended to protect the current and future water needs of counties where water originates before it's diverted elsewhere — Thursday's signing represents a rare instance of a decades-old claim finally translating into an actual purchase option, even if nature ultimately decides how much water shows up to buy.
