By Joel Hastings
The meeting of the board of directors of the Chowchilla Water District was called to order by President Roger Schuh about 1:30 p.m. on September 9, 2026 at the district offices in Chowchilla with all directors present. There was no public comment but President Schuh invited visitors to introduce themselves… Zach Griffin with Water & Land Solutions; Erin Cardenas Lara with the Wine Group, LLC; and this reporter.
GSA Meeting
With no changes in the agenda, the group convened as the GSA board. Resource Manager Doug Welch who had reported on the phone last meeting said the DWR still has the revised GSP under review. Delivered last year in July, the report will not need to
incorporate DWR’s most recent “best practices” to deal with subsidence in the Chowchilla Subbasin. Welch reminded the group though that there are “triggers” that could require additional activities in the event subsidence exceeds pre-set levels. He said subsidence seems to have slowed but it has also moved in a southwesterly direction in the district, towards the Dairyland section bordering neighboring Triangle T Water District.
Director Russell Harris asked about the no pumping zone along the Friant-Kern Canal in Tulare County due to subsidence damaging the canal. Director Nathan Ray commented that the Merced District has circulated a map showing subsidence in Chowchilla, “pointing the finger at us,” he said. Vice President Karun Samran pointed out the pumping restrictions in the Patterson area due to subsidence threatening the canal connecting with the San Luis Reservoir. Schuh said that because the Friant Association’s member organizations, including CWD, are responsible for a portion of maintenance, it could impact the district financially.
The Meeting
Returning to the CWD board agenda, the group heard April Ellison give the balances in the treasurer’s report – receipts for the month of $5,249,728.74; disbursements of $1,071,992.40 and a fund balance on September 1 of $26,011,780.09. This report was approved along with the warrants list of bills to be paid totaling $878,453.16.
The budget report was in order with one difference from recent years being that the Bureau has not allowed advance payments for water this year changing the timing of cash flow.
The board continued, approving the minutes of the August 12 meeting. It considered and granted a request for a refund of $51.80 of late fees for a property owner whose mortgage company had not paid the assessment as had been done in the past.
O&M
Operations & Maintenance Manager Chris Mayo was not present to give his report, so General Manager Brandon Tomlinson referred to Mayo’s report in the board packet showing amounts of water in the Eastman and Millerton Reservoirs as of August 31, and
listing maintenance activities and repairs in the shop. Crews have been completing work on the piping and gates for the new recharge basins to ensure maximum capability for storage in the event of a wet winter. He said there had been no drilling of new holes in basin bottoms filled either with rock or dirt to improve recharge. It was agreed work would begin right away with an effort to determine how to measure and improve recharge rates.
Water Report
Tomlinson handed out his written report documenting water brought in from Buchanan and Friant and delivered by month, May through August. Totals for the season were 35,546 AF from Buchanan and 68,422 AF from Millerton, a total of 103,968 AF brought in. Water delivered amounted to 70,987 AF for an efficiency of 68 percent. Director Ray asked how these figures compared with last year and Tomlinson said he would supply the comparisons but did not have them on hand.
Tomlinson continued, saying that he and Austin Ewing, their consultant, had met with the Army Corps about the project to raise the Buchanan Dam. Several other districts with similar projects were there. It appears the district may have to fund the study of the project using grant funds. He pointed out a workshop he would be attending in September in Long Beach providing information about the Water Resources Development Act Section 203 where he would learn about managing such grant funds. Schuh supported his attendance saying we should understand the obligations if we take the money. Tomlinson referred to his list of upcoming meetings this fall and into early 2027.
He said he had met with representatives of NRCS to discuss the million-dollar funding of the intertie between the LeGrand – Atwater Water District and Chowchilla. He said that CWD would need to enter into an agreement to access these funds. The pipeline will be about a mile and a half to allow water to flow into the district. The directors expressed some skepticism about the need for pumps that would provide a two-way flow. Tomlinson said there would be more discussion about the grant funding and the project itself.
He concluded his report saying that there will need to be a special board meeting to consider the revised High Speed Rail agreements when they are completed. There will be more discussion at a future closed session.
With the final agenda item report from directors, Schuh said that at the Friant board meeting he had learned there is a group of east side growers exchanging information with a group of growers in the Delta region about common problems and possible solutions. He said the Friant Association members might be asked to support this effort by contributing $1000 each. It was agreed a Friant staffer would be invited to meet with CWD to provide more information.
With no other director reports and no need for a closed session, the board adjourned at 2:25 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
Board: Roger Schuh – President, Karun Samran – Vice President, Russell Harris, Nathan Ray 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. The District serves about 85,000 acres in southern Merced and northern Madera Counties. 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.
The Chowchilla Subbasin’s DWR # is 5-022.06
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