BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:Title
Denial of May 10, 2022 Claim by Stanford University Against Santa Clara Valley Water District for Refund of Water Year 2021-2022 Groundwater Production Charges.
End
RECOMMENDATION:Recommendation
Deny Stanford University's claim.
Body
SUMMARY:
Stanford University (Stanford) presented a written claim on May 10th, 2022 (Claim), demanding from Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) a refund of groundwater charges paid in Water Year 2021-2022. Stanford's claim identifies payments totaling $449,630.77 for the months of July 2021 through February 2022, and states that payments for March 2022 through June 2022 will be identified once known. Stanford asserts that Valley Water's groundwater charges as applied to Stanford:
1. Violate the District Act;
2. Violate California Constitution, Article XIII C;
3. Violate California Constitution, Article XIII D;
4. Trespass upon Stanford's vested groundwater and surface rights;
5. "Take" Stanford's vested groundwater and surface rights; and
6. Violate the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
Stanford has long disputed the benefits it receives from Valley Water's management of the groundwater supply in Zone W-2 and has long argued that it should not be required to pay the Zone W-2 groundwater charges. In April of last year, Stanford submitted a similar claim for groundwater charges paid in Water Year 2020-2021. That claim was denied by the Board.
Stanford claims its wells are located in a distinct hydrologic area of the northern portion of the Santa Clara Subbasin, and Valley Water's recharge management activities further to the south do not affect the groundwater level in the northern portion of the subbasin where Stanford pumps groundwater. It also asserted that groundwater-management activities undertaken by Stanford and the City of Palo Alto since the 1960's, rather than Valley Water's activities, are responsible for sustainable groundwater levels in the...
Click here for full text