Cal Fire Sues Shasta County Landowner Over Alleged Illegal Water Diversion
Lawsuit claims Pit River water was routed to a private pond; landowner disputes allegations in interview with the Record Searchlight.
The Record Searchlight reported on Wednesday that Cal Fire has filed a lawsuit against a Shasta County man accused of diverting water from the Pit River to a pond on his Montgomery Creek property. According to the article, the complaint — filed in Shasta County Superior Court — alleges that landowner Guiliano Borgna illegally rerouted water through a ditch running across Cal Fire’s property.
According to the article, the lawsuit claims a ditch roughly 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep carries water from the Pit River across Cal Fire’s land to Borgna’s storage pond, located about 275 feet away. The article also states that the land now owned by Cal Fire totals 6,982 acres and was donated by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) on Feb. 28, 2023, as part of the Pit Tunnel Donation.
The alleged diversion predates Cal Fire’s ownership. The Record Searchlight noted that PG&E first discovered the ditch in February 2022, when the property was still under its control. According to the article, PG&E later received approval from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to block the unauthorized channel and plugged it with boulders, stones, and soil in September 2022. The lawsuit alleges that Borgna subsequently reopened the channel and does not possess a required water rights permit or license.
Cal Fire requested documentation of Borgna’s water rights, but the complaint says he did not provide proof. The agency is asking the court for an injunction preventing him from reopening the diversion, as well as punitive damages in an amount yet to be determined.
In the Record Searchlight’s interview with Borgna, published Tuesday, Dec. 9, the landowner said he had not been served with the lawsuit and disputed several of the state’s claims. According to the article, Borgna said he does possess water rights and maintains that he did not construct the ditch.
“That tributary has been there for 115 years,” Borgna told the Record Searchlight, describing the waterway flowing from the river to the pond on his nearly 18-acre property, which he has owned since 2003. He said the rights are not listed on his deed because “pre-1914 water rights were never recorded on deeds,” telling the paper, “I have the right to maintain it and that’s all that I have done to keep the pond going.”
The article further states that Borgna said he provided the state with information from the Shasta Historical Society’s 2005 Covered Wagon periodical to support his claim of pre-1914 rights. The lawsuit, however, maintains that PG&E lawfully plugged the diversion in 2022 after receiving approval from state wildlife officials.
The Record Searchlight reported that Borgna told the paper he reopened the channel on the advice of his attorney. “They came back and told me I didn't have a right to unblock it,” Borgna said in the article. “And I told them I did.”
The California Attorney General’s Office did not respond to the Record Searchlight’s request for comment by press time.
Cover image: Ries Bosch on Unsplash | Original article.
