By Joel Hastings
The Madera Irrigation District held a special board meeting on August 25, 2025 at the District offices in order to reconsider its strategy on a domestic well mitigation program. The open meeting scheduled for 1:30 p.m. was preceded by a 30-minute closed session. With no reportable action, the board moved into a GSA session right away, with discussion led by Assistant General Manager Dina Nolan.
She reminded the directors that for many months, the seven GSAs covering the Madera Subbasin had been meeting in an effort to develop a basin-wide domestic well mitigation program. What had been under discussion was a program that would offer support to property owners whose wells had gone dry across the subbasin with costs shared by all seven GSAs in some fashion. Some advocated cost sharing based on acreage while MID wanted costs proportionately assigned based on overdraft.
However, in recent discussions, three of the GSAs have now announced that they are not willing to participate in a single, basin-wide program and instead will deal with dried up domestic wells only in their own, specific areas covered by their respective irrigation districts. They are Gravelly Ford, New Stone and Root Creek.
As a result, Madera ID will need to see if there is common ground with the other three GSAs or if it will have to go on its own within the MID borders. Director Carl Janzen said he is disappointed that the county has not provided more leadership. President Dave
Loquaci said a program needs to be put in place and that theoretically the county is going to collect fees for a program in the county GSA which covers the white areas outside any irrigation district. The suggestion is that MID go its own way to provide mitigation for domestic wells within the boundaries of the District.
General Manager Tom Greci said the District has already invested way beyond what the GSP requires, building and filling recharge basins, bringing in water which can prevent wells from going dry… in effect “supply side” mitigation. He said he was looking for direction from the board about going its own way, especially since another meeting of the subbasin GSAs will be held this coming Friday, August 29.
Vice President Brian Davis said that no matter how much water the District puts in its own recharge facilities, the wells around the subbasin will still be “sucking out water.” Loquaci added that in conversations with a pump company, he had been told they are lowering wells every week because of declining ground water levels. He said he’s really worried that not much has been done, and this after two reasonably good water years. He asked what happens if we have a drought for several years… things could be really bad.
Director Brandon Bishel asked if there would be any cap on expenditures for a mitigation program. Greci said that any program would be included in the District budget which of course requires board approval. Greci continued saying that by adopting its own program, property owners located within the District could receive help right away. Davis added that initially there could be “chaos,” with the District being blamed for not bringing in more water, even though the Friant – Madera Canal has been at compacity. Greci added that it’s really not equitable and that the spread between the haves (landowners in the District) and the have nots (land owners outside) will become even greater. He said that if the state comes in, at least MID will be able to show that it has a program that is working. Greci said he would like clear direction from the board about the District going its own way. Loquaci polled the directors with each one speaking in favor of a District program that could be implemented with reasonable speed.
The directors reconvened as the MID board to hear a report from GM Greci about the water year. He thanked the board for having a meeting on short notice. He said Hidden Dam has
been shut down with very low water levels behind it and that tomorrow (August 26) will be the last full day of water deliveries. He said on Wednesday (August 27), the Friant Canal will be closed off and as the system drains, a few growers might have some available for a short time. He said nearly 150,000 AF had been delivered this year, a good year considering the dry conditions.
There was no further discussion, and the meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m.
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Madera Irrigation District – 12152 Road 28 ¼ Madera, CA 93637 559/673-3514
Staff: General Manager -Thomas Greci, Assistant GM – Dina Nolan
Board: Dave Loquaci, president; Brian Davis, vice-president, Brandon Bishel, Tim DaSilva and Carl Janzen
HISTORY: From www.madera-id.org The Madera Irrigation District (MID or District), founded in 1920, encompasses an area of approximately 139,665 acres. MID operates a primarily gravity irrigation distribution system with approximately 300 miles of open flow canal systems as well as 150 miles of large diameter pipelines.
The District has a Central Valley Project (CVP) repayment contract with United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) providing up to 85,000 acre feet (AF) of Class 1 and 186,000 AF of Class 2 water per year from the Friant Division (Millerton Lake). The CVP water is released from Millerton Lake through the Friant Dam and then conveyed through the Madera Canal for delivery into the District’s service area. The District also entered into a CVP repayment contract with the USBR for the yield from the Hidden Unit (Hensley Lake). Under the Hidden Unit contract, the average annual supply available to the District is approximately 24,000 AF per year.
DWR SGMA # 5-022.06
