By Joel Hastings
The Chowchilla Water District board of directors held its regular monthly meeting on October 9, 2024 at the District offices in that northern Madera County village. President Roger Schuh called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. with all directors present except Karun Samran. Schuh invited public comment, but none was forthcoming, with only one visitor, Zach Griffin of Land & Water Solutions, and this reporter present in addition to staff.
Convening immediately as the board of the Chowchilla Subbasin GSA, the board invited public comment on the revised GSP for the Subbasin as called for in the hearing notices. There was no one to speak in person or on the phone. It was announced that the hearing would remain open for public comment until November 13, unless a special meeting is held earlier after due notice.
Resource Director Doug Welch said the effort continues to develop revisions that are acceptable to the State Water Resources Control Board. To that end, a Zoom meeting with SWRCB staff will be held on October 18 at 2 p.m. Welch said the hope is that the staff will indicate that the revisions are satisfactory or at least offer suggestions about what will put the plan over the hump, thereby avoiding a hearing and returning the GSA to the authority of the Department of Water Resources. He said it could be that such additional recommended additional revisions be incorporated in the five-year report due in 2025.
There was a brief discussion of the status of the suit against the SWCRB in the Tulare Lake Subbasin brought by Kings County Farm Bureau. The question was asked rhetorically what the impact of a court verdict might be on CWD GSA. The chair invited other questions for Welch, who said he hoped they might be ones he could answer!
With that, the CWD board meeting reconvened at 1:40 p.m. with consideration of the treasurer’s report delivered by Office Manager April Garay. She said receipts for the month totaled $2,190,527.19 including over $25,000 in interest from the newly established account at Tri-County Bank. Disbursements had been $1,069,386.87 leaving a balance on October 1 of $18,927,117.34. This report was approved along with the payment of bills in
the warrant list totaling $490,989.54. The budget report was accepted after discussion with Treasurer Lila Beatty about the accounting practices of the Bureau of Reclamation. She had corrected their figures, showing up in this budget report. The Bureau requires payment for water purchases from Millerton two months in advance, necessitating estimates which then have to be reconciled with actual figures after the fact. Welch said this has long been a frustration, with the Bureau owing the District in a wet year and vice versa in a dry year.
Minutes of the two meetings in September were approved, the regular meeting on September 18 and a special meeting in closed session on September 25 for discussion with counsel on a real property negotiation.
Operations and Maintenance Manager Chris Mayo gave his O & M report describing burning along canal banks since the end of the water season in early September in preparation for weed control herbicide applications. He documented the maintenance and
repair work done on seven vehicles including the set-up of the recently received new service truck. Several pieces of equipment were declared surplus including three plastic fertilizer storage tanks, all to be sent for auction on October 19.
General Manager Brandon Tomlinson said he was completing his final water season report which will be available next week. He referred to a handout showing current total storage in Buchanan at 71,235 AF (total capacity 131,143) and Friant at 238,237 AF (total capacity 520,500 AF). He said the District’s carry over for 2024 amounted to 449 AF of Class 1 water at Friant and 457 Class 2 and 434 AF Class 1 at San Luis. Director Russell Harris asked if this water could be sold to Westlands. The response was that this water could only be sold to another Friant District organization and that Bureau approval is required for any such transfer. This carry over water remains with the District but will need to be used before March 1, 2025.
Directors were invited to report. Director Harris asked if the water table in the District was still up by 40 feet. Welch said that measurements at the monitoring wells would begin next week. Director Nathan Ray said that the DWR had issued its semi-annual water update and asked if there were any items concerning this area. Director Vince Taylor passed, and Chair Schuh said that updating the District bylaws would be a chore on the to-do list for coming months. After a bit of discussion, Tomlinson noted that different designs are being explored for recharge basins, some not requiring that the surrounding land be completely leveled. Schuh said that he and Tomlinson would be attending the annual Friant Association board “retreat,” which he said is anything but that with the time and attention required.
With that, the board went into closed session at 2:18 p.m. in preparation for meeting with counsel at 2:30 regarding negotiation about property located at the southwest corner of Avenue 20 and Robertson Blvd.
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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
