By Don A. Wright
The East Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency held its board of directors meeting on Monday, January 22, 2024 in Exeter at the Old Jail House, it’s probably so old it was originally called the Gaol. I arrived a bit late. I missed the call to order, approval of the agenda, pledge of allegiance, public comment and acceptance of the minutes. I suspect all the above was somehow dealt with satisfactorily.
General Manager Michal Hagman reported on financial matters. I believe Hagman’s background before water management was accounting which may explain why so much of the board packet was in the form of cost and revenue statements. The first matter had something to do with paying the bills and that was approved. Then there is the money owed to EKGSA. Hagman reported on this too. Bundle it all up and you have your financial report. He said most of the groundwater work is going to Intera Engineering. Much of the
fees collected is going to rewrite the Groundwater Sustainability Plan and save up some ducats for projects. Hagman also put the balance sheet up and EKGSA has $3 million in assets and is looking to purchase some property.
Water Blueprint
Next Hagman spoke about contributing to the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley. He said the irrigation districts are contributing through the Friant Water Authority. If EKGSA were to contribute it would have to do so through the education fund and not the advocacy fund, because this is a government agency and is prohibited from advocacy.
This topic generated a good deal of conversation about being a part of the discussion. To remind us all the Blueprint has been an organization to build up a unity for water planning in the Valley. Hagman recommended $2,500. He said that could come from the miscellaneous budget. Director Craig Hornung liked the idea but wanted to have some reporting. Director Mike George moved to contribute $2,500 and the board approved.
The Flying Dragon Property is being looked at for recharge. Hagman said the SkyTem magnetic resonance array has flown over the property and there are some good opportunities. The water sources would range from stream flood overflow, Friant 215 Water and Watchumna supplies for banking. It’s located near the Tulare County hamlet of Seville.
Attorney Alex Dominguez was online and he said there is a requirement of an acceptance in the form of a resolution stating EKGSA accepts the property. George asked if all the due diligence has been conducted. Hagman said it has been completed including him walking the property. It’s believed from memory there is a 250 foot well that could help with recharge. The resolution will be approved or denied after a closed session discussion. So this item was tabled until then.
The next item was delinquent payments and should there be liens imposed to collect was asked. That item wasn’t completed either.
GSP Update
Along with Abhishek Singh, PhD, PE, Kait Palys from Intera gave an update on the GSP. Today’s update included the news that the State Board has moved the Kaweah Subbasin probationary hearing to November. She said the timeline is to get the groundwater update completed with a public review in May for 30-days. Self Help Enterprises is helping as well. Palys explained there are teams of staff representing the GSAs in the subbasin. This is part of the same presentation given earlier today at the Greater Kaweah GSA meeting. She said SHE was very helpful in arriving at the costs of well mitigation. There are different costs for domestic and ag wells. Working with Provost & Pritchard Engineering, Intera came up with well mitigation costs based on a variety of over-pumping scenarios. Palys pointed out which ever scenario is chosen, the entire subbasin must agree.
Hornung said Greater Kaweah GSA is opting for more pumping and this is driving the problem. Director Joe Ferrara said if Greater Kaweah GSA doesn’t slow down its overdraft it doesn’t matter what EKGSA does. This has always been the problem in the Kaweah Subbasin. It’s almost two different watersheds. Much of East Kaweah sits next to the granite shelf that runs along the Central Valley where the Sierra Nevada range fractured rock aquifer formation gives way to the alluvial aquifer on the Valley’s floor. East Kaweah has a much shallower depth to bedrock which means there isn’t as much storage space available in its aquifer. The north side wells are not recovering as fast as was hoped.
Palys said the interconnected water component has been put on the back burner because DWR understands it is so complicated they can’t even get their guidance paper written and disbursed. But the ecosystem related to this interconnectivity is still considered beneficial use. She told me this is mostly vegetation.
Hagman said the clay layer starts at Highway 99 and goes west. There are isolated clay layers in East Kaweah but groundwater levels when Friant was first build were much lower than today. The bottom line I hear today is EKGSA can’t survive on the higher pumping levels the two other down-gradient GSAs desire. There will be a Technical Advisory Committee meeting coming up where this issue presumably will be hashed out. If I heard correctly if the Kaweah Subbasin is placed on probation by the State Board the current fee would be more than $10 million. It will take a little journalist math to calculate the entire subbasin.
The meeting then went into closed session at 5:03pm and that was that.
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SGMA The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 calls for the formation of Groundwater Sustainability Areas within Basins and Sub-basins to develop Groundwater Sustainability Plans.
EAST KAWEAH GSA 315 E. Lindmore Street, Lindsay, CA 93247. Telephone 559/562-2534. Mailing address PO Box 908 Lindsay, CA 93247
Members: County of Tulare, City of Lindsay, Exeter ID, Ivanhoe ID, Lindsay Strathmore ID, Lindmore ID and Stone Corral ID
Board: David Roberts-Chair, Craig Hornung-Vice Chair, Ed Milanesio, Joe Ferrara, Hipolito Cerros, Larry Micari, Terry Peltzer, Mike George, Paul Buldo & Briant Watson.
Staff: Michael Hagman – Executive Director, Joe Hughes – Attorney
DWR Listing: Basin San Joaquin Valley, Sub Basin Kaweah 5-022.11
