By Joel Hastings
The Chowchilla Water District board of directors meeting was called to order at 1:33 p.m. by President Roger Schuh. There was no public comment and there was one deletion of an agenda item. In the agenda, a resolution was proposed which would direct a letter be sent to Madera County, objecting to the sale of two properties for unpaid county taxes. The
district wanted to preserve its lien on unpaid district assessments. But it was reported that the amounts owed had been paid to the district, so that such a protest letter was no longer necessary, and therefore the agenda item could be removed.
SGMA
Convening as the board of the GSA, they heard Resource Manager Doug Welch explain that the public hearing on the revised GSP would continue until March 12, the date of the next board meeting. He said at that point the directors could close the hearing and approve the GSP for submission to State Water Resources Control Board. He said that consulting engineer John Davids was scheduled to have another meeting with the SWRCB staff to keep things going in the right direction.
While it was not discussed at this meeting, the February 10 edition of Maven’s Notebook water newsletter reported a presentation given by Natalie Stork, director of the State Water Resources Control Board’s Office of Sustainable Groundwater Management. Speaking at the annual meeting of the California Irrigation Institute, she gave an update of the board’s review of several GSPs which had been found inadequate by DWR and turned over to the board.
She said that the Chowchilla subbasin has turned in a new plan. “It looks very good,” Ms. Stork is quoted as saying. “So, we are in the process of working on a staff report, not the 150 to 350-page version, but hopefully a shorter version, and scheduling an action item in front of our board. We’re working through those last issues, but a lot of really good progress there.”
The Board Meeting
Reconvening as the CWD board, the directors heard and approved the treasurer’s report delivered by April Garay. She said receipts for January totaled $2,407,543.01, disbursements were $949,379.14 with a remaining balance on February 1 of
$18,909,176.10. Schuh inquired how many tax assessments remain unpaid, and the response was 400, compared with 260 last year at this time. The board then approved payment of the warrants list of bills totaling $495,255.02
The board then approved minutes of meetings held on January 15 and a special meeting held February 5. At that latter meeting, the board had considered three bids for the construction of the Vista recharge basin. The accepted bid totaled $776,012.70, after the construction of a seven acre lake was removed from the work.
The board then moved to elect officers and appoint directors to various committees and outside boards. Schuh relinquished the gavel to Treasurer Lela Beatty who referred to the complete list of current office holders as presented in the agenda packet. When she invited nominations, Vince Taylor moved and Russell Harris seconded that all be reelected and
reappointed. Approval was unanimous, resulting in the reelection of Schuh as president and Karun Samran as vice-president. The personnel committee is composed of Samran and Nathan Ray; equipment committee is Schuh and Samran; operations committee is Schuh and Taylor; and budget & finance is Schuh and Samran. The list of directors appointed to a dozen outside boards can be obtained at the district office.
The board then discussed and approved a water transfer agreement with the Triangle T Water District following the practice of recent years. The exchange involves up to 2,000 AF of recaptured San Joaquin River restoration water in the San Luis Reservoir and riparian credits in the Chowchilla River. The agreement provides each organization with the water its due while reducing loss from deliveries. Of course, the document as presented is much more complicated with involvement by the Bureau, the Central California Irrigation District and the San Luis Canal Company, all subject to water availability.
Director of Operations Chris Mayo hit highlights from his written O & M report, beginning by citing increased water behind both the Buchanan and Friant dams. Work done in the past month included building a road on Center Vista Pond thereby allowing district vehicles to avoid using a neighboring property owner’s drive. He described some burning, sediment removal and the installation of new gates and screens. In the vehicle shop, work included clean truck checks on diesels per state regulation which of course required payment of the $100 fee.
General Manager Brandon Tomlinson said there was not much to update on water and there will be more information after current storms forecast for later in the week have passed through. He said Austin Ewell has made arrangements for meetings with Congressmembers Tom McClintock at Buchanan Dam and Adam Gray at the district office with himself and Schuh. CWD area lies in both congressional districts. The work to get funding for the Buchanan Dam expansion continues.
With no reports from the directors, the board moved into closed session about 2 p.m. That agenda included consideration of real estate purchase negotiations.
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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
