FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. - On Friday, September 3, 2004, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) filed a lawsuit against the Yorba Linda Water District (YLWD) for failure to pay its full replenishment assessment or groundwater bill.  The suit claims that YLWD is illegally claiming 2,800 acre-feet of water that does not belong to it. By not paying its water bill, YLWD is violating State law.  The YLWD water rights claim is based on a historic 1970’s document with the Bryant Ranch landowners and OCWD, and does not involve YLWD.  YLWD has failed to provide documentation justifying its claim to the disputed water.

In 1970, OCWD and the owner of the Bryant Ranch, an agricultural area in Yorba Linda, agreed that these landowners may produce or direct up to 2,800 acre-feet of water from their property for agricultural use on their property, without OCWD interfering with that use or assessing the Replenishment Assessment.  The agreement stated that once the land was urbanized, the water rights under the agreement would cease and landowners in the Bryant Ranch area would be annexed into OCWD’s service area. The Bryant Ranch agreement also states that the 2,800 acre-feet of water was for agricultural use and was not transferable to any other lands.  YLWD is claiming to have rights to the Bryant Ranch water, which they intend to use not for the benefit of the people who have since bought portions of the Bryant Ranch, but for all their ratepayers.

In response to YLWD claims that it was not aware of the Bryant Ranch agreement, OCWD has documents showing that the Bryant Ranch agreement was sent to YLWD in 1993, as part of an annexation proposal, that include a proposed agreement between OCWD and YLWD for the annexation of the Bryant Ranch lands.  YLWD did not return or sign the annexation agreement, as requested by OCWD, and as called for by the Bryant Ranch agreement.  The Bryant Ranch agreement is a public document that has been available since it was approved in 1970.

“Unfortunately, the YLWD claim threatens all other groundwater users in North-Central Orange County with more than $20,000,000 in infrastructure and water right claims, as well as the cost of lawyer fees to prove the claims are false,” said Virginia Grebbien, general manager of OCWD.

In response to OCWD’s claim that YLWD does not have water rights originally designated for the Bryant Ranch landowners, YLWD has withheld part of its water rate assessment charges for the groundwater it uses.  If OCWD did not sue for the water payment, it would be in a position of making an illegal gift of public funds to the YLWD, which is a violation of the State constitution.

More info: Backgrounder OCWD vs. YLWD Lawsuit