By Joel Hastings
The Chowchilla Water District board of directors held its monthly meeting on September 18, 2024 at the District offices in Chowchilla. The meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m. sharp by President Roger Schuh. Director Vince Taylor was not present. Schuh invited public comment, but none was forthcoming even though several were there: Stephen Dotta, Gold Leaf Farming; Zach Griffin, Land & Water Solutions; Jim Kopshever, Harris Ranch; and Shinde Singh; and this reporter. There were no changes to the agenda.
Convening as the GSA board for the Chowchilla Subbasin, Schuh invited public comment for what had been publicized as a public hearing to consider the revised GSP before its submission to the State Board. Resource Director Doug Welch explained that while feedback had been expected from the State Board, none had yet been received and it was expected a few revisions might still be needed. Therefore, the comment period remains open, and no action will be taken before the next meeting, October 9th. The hope is that the board will be able to approve the final document and submit it for consideration after that meeting. Welch speculated that the State Board staff had been preoccupied with the legal proceedings in the South Valley.
Returning the CWD agenda at 1:37 p.m., the Board considered the treasurer’s report presented by April Garay. She said receipts for the month had totaled $4,230,331.69, disbursements were $1,592,620.52, leaving an ending balance on September 1st of $17,805,977.02. This report was approved as was the warrant of bills to be paid that totaled $1,346,101.92. The budget report was also approved with no adjustments required.
Minutes were approved for the regular meeting held August 14th and for the special meeting held August 21st at which the board determined that water deliveries were to be concluded on September 2nd
Director of Operations Chris Mayo delivered his O & M report, noting first the reservoir storage totals as of the end of the water season – Eastman Lake is at 72,200 AF (Acre Feet) and Millerton Lake is at 257,412 AF. Since the shutdown, the crew has been aggressively mowing ditches and repairing canal roads. Emergency work to repair pipeline leaks at Dairyland and repair for an air vent at Berenda had also been completed. The new Western Star dump truck has been received.
Mayo also said in the shop a lot of work has been done on the Chevy trucks, 1500 models, which require replacement of control arms for the older trucks, model years, 2016, 17 and 18. It was observed that might reflect the rough canal roads, as well as bad county roads and, said Mayo, Chevy quality issues.
The board declared as surplus a Ford F350 truck, model year 2008 with over 120,000 miles. The truck has been replaced, is not in particularly good shape and will be sent to auction.
In his General Manager’s report, Brandon Tomlinson said that water deliveries had been stopped the evening of September 1st with only 448 AF carried over at Millerton and just over 100 AF still at the San Luis Reservoir… in effect, a negligible amount. In reply to a question, Welch said that the 72,000 AF at Eastman is a larger amount than in an average year.
President Schuh asked if there should be concern about washout flowing into Berenda Reservoir, the main regulating reservoir at the head of the system, reducing its capacity. Welch replied that the lake has 140 surface acres and is 18 feet deep at the dam, and still 12 to 15 feet at the boat launch further back. He said that 15 years ago, the last time there had been any dredging, the Fish and Game stopped them for disrupting the fish habitat. He
said if anything were to be done, a permit would have to be obtained and an excavator, not a bulldozer, would be needed. The staff consensus is that nothing needs to be done anytime soon.
With no further discussion, the board moved into closed session at 1:30 p.m. to consider, according to the agenda, three items of anticipated litigation.
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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.
