By Joel Hastings
After opening the meeting as scheduled at 1:30 p.m. on December 13, 2023, at the District offices, the CWD board of directors went into closed session with legal counsel. According to the agenda, there were three items of anticipated legal action, two items of ongoing litigation and a conference about a property negotiation. Typically, the closed sessions are held at the end of the meeting but today counsel’s schedule required an earlier time slot.
The District’s counsel is Joseph D. Hughes of Klein, DeNatale, Goldman who was on the phone from his office in Bakersfield.
Moving to open session at 2:35 p.m., President Kole Upton convened the GSA meeting with Resource Manager Doug Welch reporting. He said there had been a small meeting with staff of the SWRCB to get guidance on the proposed adjustments in the GSP for the Chowchilla Subbasin. In particular, more detail was requested about the domestic well mitigation program.
Next, Welch presented information taken from the results of the October groundwater measurements. While information from the 23 testing wells is monitored electronically on a continuous basis, readings are recorded in March and October for submission to DWR. He said that the readings on average showed an increase in the groundwater level of 16 feet. He showed a map of the district with well locations, some depths below the Corcoran clay level and some above. There are seasonal ebbs and flows but overall, he said the
groundwater table continues to decline.
He concluded by presenting information developed by Davids Engineering with two methods of reducing groundwater use in the District, encouraging the increased use of surface water. One possibility is to impose a fee for the use of groundwater in excess of a minimum level. Another might be a requirement than only a specific amount can be pumped for irrigated acres, perhaps in the range of 1.75 AF per acre. Director Russell Harris asked if one property owner could make all or a portion of his allocation available to another and the answer was yes. Newly seated director Karun Samran described his experience with the Merced Irrigation District. The goal here is to develop a pilot program that can be rolled out to District growers. Legal counsel will be needed to develop a mandatory program while avoiding a 218 vote. Reduction is necessary because the District is still in overdraft by some 30,000 AF per year.
At 3 p.m. the board reconvened and heard the treasurer’s report presented by Lela Beatty. She said receipts for the month totaled $942,727.72 and disbursements amounted to $1,895,850.84, leaving a balance on December 1 of $19,847,791.76. She then presented the warrant of bills which totaled $9,211,77. 
Included in that amount was $7 million transferred to Tri-County Bank where the account would earn a greater return than deposits in Bank of America. The final item was the budget report with no exceptions noted. All three reports were unanimously approved as were the minutes of the November 8 meeting.
Ms. Beatty took the gavel to conduct elections with Kole Upton reelected president and Roger Schuh vice president unanimously. Committee appointments made by Upton for the coming year include Schuh and Samran on personnel, equipment and budget & finance with Schuh and Vince Taylor heading the operations committee. CWD board and staff serve on 11 boards of outside organizations and all appointments remain as last year. Notable are all directors serving on the Madera-Chowchilla Water & Power Authority, Vince Taylor on the Friant Power Authority, Schuh as a director of the Friant Water Users with all other directors as alternates.
Chris Mayo, superintendent of operations and maintenance, reviewed highlights of work done since the November meeting. His written report listed eight items of work on district infrastructure along with repairs and maintenance done on seven vehicles. His written report showed water storage amounts at Eastman and Millerton as of November 30 – 92,017 and 177,403 AF, respectively.
The 2008 Chevy 3500 service truck was declared surplus and will be sent to auction. The new replacement vehicle is already in the fleet. More vehicles are being purchased currently because in 2025 and thereafter, the state is requiring that half of all new vehicle purchases be electric powered.
GM Brandon Tomlinson began his report with a review of a printout showing a detailed summary of water activities this calendar year. He pointed out that 139,548 AF had been recharged in the district including 7,818 AF in the recharge basins which total some 200 acres. Water delivered to members was 157,245 AF for use on approximately 73,000 planted acres. Class 1 receipts totaled 58,802 AF while the Class 2 figure was 24,508 AF and total receipts including substantial amounts of flood release totaled 425,548 AF.
Tomlinson also was pleased to say that the Ewell Group reported that the Army Corps of Engineers had determined that they were authorized to consider the plan to raise the Buchanan Dam and would be looking to include the feasibility study in their budget. Further solicitation of political support will not be necessary. This is an important development in moving this project along, he said.
Rounding out the meeting were reports from directors. Schuh had an information sheet available showing a breakdown of the Friant Division water for each contractor, a total of 800,000 AF of Class 1 with CWD’s allocation at 55,000 AF representing about eight percent. Friant’s total Class 2 water amounts to 1.4 million AF with CWD allocated 160,000 AF.
With no further business, Upton declared the meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
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Chowchilla Water District – PO Box 905 – 327 So. Chowchilla Ave., Chowchilla, CA 93610 559/665-3747 website www.cwdwater.com
Staff: General Manager – Brandon Tomlinson; General Resource Manager – Douglas Welch; Treasurer – Lela Beatty
Board: Kole Upton – President, Roger Schuh – Vice President, Russell Harris, karun Samran and Vince Taylor
PROFILE: Formed in 1949, the Chowchilla Water District serves about 85,000 acres situated in southern Merced County and northern Madera County on the eastside of the San Joaquin Valley. It’s over 400 water users have an average farm size of about 162 acres. Buchanan Dam was constructed in 1975 and is operated and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers. The maximum capacity of the dam is 150,000 acre-feet and has a maximum conservation capacity of 140,000 acre-feet. The District also has appropriative water rights issued by the State Water Resources Control Board to divert water from the Chowchilla River. The Madera Canal supplies water from Friant Dam to the Chowchilla Water District. The District has contracted with the Bureau of Reclamation for 55,000 acre-feet of Class 1 Water and 160,000 acre-feet of Class 2 Water. With Madera ID, the District owns the Madera-Chowchilla Water & Power Authority which operates the Madera Canal and four hydroelectric power plants located on the Madera Canal.
