Good morning. It's Monday, April 29. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
In the western, mostly dry San Joaquin Valley, "water is liquid gold," according to hydrographer Mark Walsh.
"If you got it, you can make a ton of money," he recently told The Times' Jessica Garrison.
As Jessica reported this week, federal officials say a local irrigation official was cashing in on that liquid gold mine by surreptitiously stealing supplies.
Prosecutors allege that Dennis Falaschi, former general manager at the Panoche Water District, orchestrated a decades-long theft by siphoning $25 million worth of water from a federal aqueduct and selling it to farmers and regional water districts.
Volume-wise, Falaschi allegedly stole 130,000 acre-feet of water between 1992 and 2015, officials said. That's "enough to supply a small city for several years," Jessica noted.
"In a state with prolonged bouts of drought and unquenching thirst, stolen water is an indelible part of California lore," she wrote. "But this was not Los Angeles' brazen gambit to take water from the Owens Valley. … The water grab described in a federal indictment allegedly happened cat burglar-style, siphoned through a secret pipe, often after hours, to avoid detection."
State prosecutors filed felony charges against Falaschi in 2018 for misspending public funds. They claim he used the proceeds to pay for housing and personal vehicles for his employees, plus slot machines, concert tickets and home remodeling.
In April 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Falaschi for allegedly masterminding the theft of government water and lying about it on his income on his taxes. The indictment alleged that Falaschi made nearly $900,000 in salary and unreported income just in 2016.
Falaschi has denied the government's allegations.
So how did the alleged scheme work? According to the indictment, Falaschi directed some of his workers to exploit a leak in the Delta-Mendota Canal way back in 1992. That's when a worker allegedly notified him that a turnout on the canal previously cemented shut was leaking. Falaschi is accused of directing workers to divert federal water into his district's system — often under cover of night — using that old turnout.
The lifted water was then allegedly sold to farmers or sent back to the canal in exchange for federal credits. Falaschi had employees falsely classify the stolen water as reclaimed runoff from local farms, the indictment stated.
Despite his alleged crimes, some farmers see Falaschi as a sort of hydrologic Robin Hood, who helped struggling farms get water amid drought.
"He didn't cause the leaking," farmer Joe Del Bosque said. "He just happened to take advantage of it for the good of the farmers."
Given that the alleged water thefts occurred over 23 years, some wonder: "Why did state and federal water officials take so long to notice?"
Several state and federal agencies, including the FBI and the federal Bureau of Reclamation, declined to speak with Jessica for her subscriber exclusive article, which you can read here.
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And finally ... a great photo
Show us your favorite place in California! We're running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.
Compton Cattle Drivers David Caballero and his sister, Jasmine Caballero, are led by their niece Daniela Marin, who is celebrating her 3rd birthday, as they parade their inflatable animals in the Compton Cowboy area on opening day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio on Friday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Today's great photo is from Times photographer Allen J. Schaben, who captured this fun moment during the opening day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. Check out more great visual moments from the festival here.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Monte Morin, environment, health and science editor
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