Two members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate how vulnerable the Bureau of Reclamation is to water theft, following a Los Angeles Times report about an audacious and long-running heist at a federal canal in the Central Valley.
The facts detailed in the story “raise serious concerns about how widespread water theft is and what Reclamation can do to prevent water theft in the future,” Reps. Jarred Huffman (D-San Rafael) and Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) wrote in their letter requesting the investigation.
The Times reported that in 2022, federal prosecutors charged former Panoche Water District general manager Dennis Falaschi with stealing more than $25 million worth of water from the Delta-Mendota Canal over two decades and selling it to farmers and other local water districts. According to the federal indictment, proceeds that should have gone to the federal government were instead used to benefit Falaschi, his water district and a small group of accomplices.
Falaschi, 78, died at the end of May pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to steal government water and one count of filing a false tax return. But in the plea deal he worked out with prosecutors, Falaschi admitted to stealing less than $3.5 million worth of water.
The government alleged in its plea agreement with Falaschi that the investigation found evidence he was “only one of many individuals involved in the misconduct.” The plea agreement also included the allegation that water thefts continued after Falaschi left his post in 2017.
Noting that “much of the West depends” on the Bureau of Reclamation’s infrastructure to “ensure efficient and reliable water delivery,” the congressmen asked the GAO to conduct a review that will look at the process for monitoring water data and managing the risks of loss and theft, data on the number and characteristics of thefts that have occurred in the past, and the challenges the department faces and opportunities for improvement.
In response to a request for comment, the Bureau of Water Reclamation said in a statement that it had “nothing to add.”
Grijalva is the ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Huffman is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
