By Joel Hastings
The regular meeting of the Madera Irrigation District was called to order by President Dave Loquaci at 2:00 p.m. amidst rain and rumbling thunder outside. Coming out of closed session where there had been consideration of litigation and personnel evaluation of General Manager Tom Greci, the Pledge was led by Director Carl Janzen. It was announced that there was nothing to report from closed session and no agenda changes. Public comment was invited but none was forthcoming in person or online. Directors Brandon Bishel and Brian Davis were not present but there was a quorum of Directors Loquaci, Janzen and Tim DaSilva.
The most important decisions were to set the water rate for original district landowners at $110 per acre/foot and $220 for subordinate landowners. Water orders are being accepted now and water deliveries will begin May 4 depending on location. With a 100 percent Class 1 allocation anticipated, the season may run into early August. The district issued a news release with full details immediately after the meeting now available on the district website… www.madera-id.org.
But back to the meeting, which was convened as the GSA board with updates provided by Dina Nolan, assistant general manager. She reported that the annual report had been submitted to DWR on March 31. She said projects funded by the NRCS grant and other basin projects continue. She reminded the group of the work with Stanford University on water quality monitoring. She added that samples have been collected for the last three months and they have reported generally favorable water quality. “So far, so good,” she concluded.
Reconvening as the MID board, the group approved the consent agenda which included the warrant list of payments from January 6 through April 21 amounting to $4,595,553.85. The financial reports for December, 2025 as well as January and February 2026 were approved. The cash balance on February 28 was reported at $59,108,548.27.
Operations and Maintenance Manager Charles Contreras gave his detailed department report describing projects underway and completed around the district. He said the spring groundwater measurements at monitoring wells around the district had been completed and the 2026 crop survey was just about done. New mapping software has been installed for both office and field use, allowing more complete documentation of the 150 miles of pipe in the district. Staff training was conducted for dealing with hazardous materials, necessary for the county license, along with CPR and first aid training. His report in the board packet included photos and descriptions of new installations and repairs.
Controller Jennifer Furstenburg reported special district reports had been prepared for both the district itself and the Madera – Chowchilla Water & Power Authority. The audit of the employee 401 savings programs was being prepared with the Hudson accounting firm.
GM Greci reported that the power plant repairs had been completed so the systems will be ready to run as water for the new season is brought into the district. The board moved to new business and Greci continued saying that in spite of the record dry month of March, the Bureau had held off reducing allocations subject to the two most recent storms. He said he is comfortable enough considering the 100 percent Class 1 allocation to prepare a budget. He said considering that early season water had been purchased at regular pricing but delivered at a nominal fee for growers, he proposed a rate of $110 per acre/foot.
Director Janzen said he was comfortable with that price and that he would support deliveries starting the first or second week of May. Director DaSilva agreed. President Loquaci said he felt like the 100 percent allocation would be delivered and so the price of $110 given the block of water moved and not charged for is good. It was noted that 2024 was a similar year and the price then had been $110. It was agreed on $110 for original district landowners and $220 per acre/foot for subordinate lands. Fees will be the same as last year for conveyance in the district at $70 per acre/foot and $180 for outside the district, both with a 15 percent loss rate added. Flat rates for up to six acres of land remain as last year
Discussing a start date, Greci said he’d been hearing from growers that crops are early this year, with Loquaci agreeing that everything is about two weeks early. It takes four or five days to fill the Madera Canal and it’s ready to go even though Chowchilla WD reports it might start a little later. A consensus quickly developed to start taking orders right away with deliveries to begin May 4, depending on the grower location. It is anticipated that the season may continue into early August, although as always, the district may make adjustments if conditions change. This pricing and timing were accepted on a roll call vote.
The board passed its annual resolution asking the county to conduct elections for directors. Then the final new business item was to set dates when the board acts as the board of equalization, with public meetings at 2:00 p.m. on June 16 and June 19.
Reports from directors conclude the agenda. DaSilva said he had nothing to report and he drew a chuckle from the group when he added that he had already spoken more than usual! Janzen said that Eric Limas will be starting as chief operating officer of the Friant Water Authority, succeeding Johnny Amaral who has moved up to the CEO spot. He said work continues on voluntary agreements – the Healthy Rivers and Lands Act – determining flows in the San Joaquin River for salmon restoration. He said the Bureau has provided some new funding for construction turnouts in districts in the south affected by the repairs on the Friant Canal. From his spot on the Power Authority board, he said the turbine repairs have been completed so with higher water flows for the fish, more power has been generated. He concluded saying the San Joaquin River Conservancy continues to be preoccupied dealing with the disposition of their old office building.
With no comment from Director Loquaci, the meeting was adjourned at 2:40 p.m.
DISCLAIMER OF RESPONSIBILITY; Waterwrights strives to provide clients with the most complete, up-to-date, and accurate information available. Nevertheless, Waterwrights does not serve as a guarantor of the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and specifically disclaims any and all responsibility for information that is not accurate, up-to-date, or complete. Waterwrights’ clients therefore rely on the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of information from Waterwrights entirely at their own risk. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not represent any advertisers or third parties.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2026 by WaterWrights.net
Madera Irrigation District – 12152 Road 28 ¼ Madera, CA 93637 phone 559/673-3514
Staff: General Manager -Thomas Greci, Assistant GM – Dina Nolan
Board of Directors: 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
