By Joel Hastings
The Chowchilla Water District board of directors held its monthly meeting on January 10, 2024, at the District offices on the south side of Chowchilla. President Kole Upton rapped
the gavel at 1:30 p.m. There were no changes to the agenda and one member of the public attending on the phone was a representative from DWR (Department of Water Resources).
As usual, the GSA board meeting was convened with Doug Welch, general resource manager, reporting on the December 19 meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board. He cited the schedule for public hearings for districts whose GSPs had not been accepted by DWR. He was pleased to report that the Chowchilla GSA was at the end of the list which he said was because it had submitted a GSP which is viewed as being close to acceptable. He said that last week, notice had been posted that the Madera Subbasin GSP had been accepted by DWR. The question was asked, how was it approved even though Madera Irrigation District had not approved the GSP. The reply on the phone from the DWR staffer was that the coordination agreement among the five GSAs had been signed by all of them. Welch referenced a cover letter of explanation that had been provided by DWR.
Two task orders were on the agenda, provided by Davids Engineering at the board’s request. Promptly approved was the proposal to produce the annual report for the Chowchilla Subbasin as required by April 1. The quoted price is about $98,000 of which 58 percent or $56,840 is the responsibility of CWD because it has that percent of acreage in the subbasin.
The second proposal from Davids was to develop action plans for a surface water incentive program for CWD growers. That work would involve taking direction from the CWD and meeting with growers and the public, all to develop a proposal for approval by the CWD board, complete with appropriate engineering and estimated impacts. The proposed price is about $75,000. Welch recounted that there has been discussion for several months.
As recently as yesterday it has included area growers contacted by Directors Roger Schuh and Karun Samran. Schuh had suggested talking with farmers about possible action to reduce demand which could include land fallowing and a groundwater extraction fee.
Board discussion centered on the value to be provided by the engineering firm if the board worked directly with local growers. Schuh asked if the SWRCB would look more favorably on a plan submitted by the Davids organization. Upton said that if there is to be a 218 vote, perhaps required by an extraction fee, then if the plan does not have the requisite technical expertise the board will be subject to criticism. Director Russell Harris said that something needs to be done now, urging credits for on-farm recharge. Director Vince Taylor said there is time available to develop plans since a hearing for Chowchilla is last on the list.
Discussion continued with comments about things done in the past in the way of water rate surcharges and incentives to use the District’s surface water instead of pumping groundwater. The question was asked about the impact of a state “takeover” of the
subbasin, and Welch replied that he had seen a report indicating “draconian” action would be imposed beginning with the metering of all wells. Concern was expressed that even if the District took action to balance its water use, the other GSAs in the subbasin, notably the white area growers, might not and this “piecemeal” approach possibly would not allow the subbasin to come into balance. Welch repeated that the District is about 40,000 AF away from balance and the Subbasin as a whole is 80,000 to 110,000 AF in overdraft and that’s what has to be fixed to achieve sustainability. He said the cost of the Davids proposal would be dwarfed by the cost of actually implementing programs to reduce demand.
Saying that growers he had spoken with were ready to take action, Director Samran moved the approval of the Davids proposal saying that local growers, even in the white areas outside the District are interested in solutions. Upton seconded the motion, but on a roll call vote, it was defeated three to two vote with Harris, Schuh and Taylor voting no. With that, the GSA meeting was recessed at 3:10 p.m.
Returning to the CWD agenda, the board heard from Treasurer Lela Beatty, who reported receipts of $1,382,637.99, disbursements of $1,247,396.03 and a balance on January 1 of
$19,983,033.30. Her report was approved as was the payment of bills that totaled $852,997.03. She said there had been some difficulty with Bank of America closing out CDs that had matured with amounts planned to be sent to Tri County Bank where a much higher return will be earned on the District fund balances.
GM Brandon Tomlinson said that included in the list of bills were payments for two heavy duty Chevy trucks that turned out to be 2023 model years found in Sanger. The newer 5500 models originally to be purchased from a different dealer had not been found acceptable by the state of California for their emissions systems. He said the dealer told him Chevy may not sell that model in the state.
Also approved were the budget report and the minutes of the December 13 meeting. A resolution was passed notifying Madera County that its proposed sale of six parcels for past due taxes still had liens from the District for unpaid assessments. Another resolution, this one amending the repayment agreement on San Joaquin restoration flows, was also approved. Tomlinson explained it only required that he provide notification earlier to Friant Water Authority about accepting such flows.
Director of Operations Chris Mayo said December had been a relatively slow month with many on his crew taking vacation during the holidays. Nevertheless, he presented a list of six accomplishments on the District’s infrastructure and a variety of work done to maintain District vehicles, including the set-up of a new service truck. By contrast, he said January
would be a busy month with much work to be done on canals that are now seasonally dry.
GM Tomlinson said that Eastman Lake has over 92,000 AF of water but that the weather forecast for the next several weeks called for very little rain. He reminded the board that the Ewell Group confirmed that the Army Corps had determined that it was authorized to conduct a study of the raising of the Buchanan Dam. Finding funds for the Corps’ budget would be the next challenge with support needed from the local Congressional delegation. He reported that he would be on vacation for two weeks beginning on January 13 but that he was scheduled to participate in a couple of Zoom meetings and his cell phone would be turned on.
At 2:37 p.m. the group moved into closed session. The agenda called for consideration of three items of anticipated litigation, two current cases and a conference on labor negotiations with all employees.
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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: Kole Upton – President, Roger Schuh – Vice President, Russell Harris, Karun Samran 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.
