By Joel Hastings
A special meeting of the board of directors of the Chowchilla Water District was called to order at 10:18 a.m. by President Roger Schuh, with all directors present except Russell Harris. There were no agenda changes and no public comment.
Immediately convening as the board of the GSA, the group heard Resource Director Doug Welch present three memoranda of understanding (MOUs) aimed at implementing the
revised joint GSP approved at the last meeting, in collaboration with the GSAs for Madera County, the Madera Irrigation District, Merced GSA Chowchilla and the Triangle T Water District. These same MOUs had been approved by the other GSAs before being on this meeting’s agenda and are required for submission with the GSP to the State Board, looking for approval and a return to the jurisdiction of the DWR.
The first one covered domestic well mitigation programs, for wells that have gone dry since January 2020 due to dropping groundwater levels. The agreement calls for expenditures up to $30,000 to replace them. If higher costs are required, they will be considered on a case by case basis. Director Vince Taylor discussed specifications that might or might not be required for such wells and the fact there is no means testing required… just a dry well. After this discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
The second MOU was agreement to support the Chowchilla Management Zone (CMZ) with the GSAs, which would undertake certain well monitoring activities, mitigation work and water quality implementation of the nitrate control program. This passed with little discussion.
The final MOU covered implementation of when and how demand management programs might be implemented, using both voluntary and mandatory measures. After discussion of
the timing, requirements and triggers for such programs, with a plan being developed by Davids Engineering, board members compared notes on ETS measurement programs offered by Hydrosat (formerly Irriwatch), Land IQ and Open ET. While concerns were expressed about groundwater use in the white areas, it was agreed that the district should continue to move forward with the programs for recharge basins and water conservation aimed at reducing groundwater use. This third MOU was also approved.
Reconvening as the district board about 11 a.m., the group accepted a bid of $680,000 for a home on 20 acres from Travis Mathews and Clairissa Ostrowski. On March 12, public bids had been opened on this property which was previously declared surplus.
The board considered purchases of land that is to be put into recharge basins. Approved for purchase was a parcel of nearly 50 acres from Avila Almond Ranch at a price of $17,000 per acre for a total of $844,560.
Two parcels totaling 38 acres from Almond House LLC were considered, also at $17,000 per acre but with the owner wanting to lease the property until this year’s almond crop could be harvested. Concern was expressed about payment now for land that would not be available until fall and the fact that the District could have liability during that time. After discussion, the resolution to purchase the land failed for lack of a motion, but direction was given to General Manager Brandon Tomlinson to propose a purchase price of $17,500 with immediate possession at closing. The hope is that the board can approve this purchase at its April meeting.
The purchase of a new pickup truck for use by the senior ditch tender was considered. Operations & Maintenance Manager Chris Mayo said the local Chevy dealer has a 1500 model on the lot with conventional cab, short bed, two-wheel drive, but with some extras like adaptive cruise control not normally required. Dealers in Sanger and Merced had been contacted. After discussion, it was agreed to investigate a four-wheel drive, conventional cab, short bed truck, ideally from the Chowchilla dealer with an eye towards a reasonable delivery date. A new truck is in the budget, but availability of the preferred model will be investigated further.
A big ticket item under consideration is a new grader to be equipped with a Sloper blade. A Caterpillar is priced at $533,008 while a comparable John Deere is offered at $439,525. After discussing the size of investment as well as the amount of work to be done, the board decided to keep the current grader which still has the opportunity for 600 hours of use before air emission controls will force it to be sidelined by the end of 2026.
Tomlinson said that a new grader had been put up for consideration this year because the purchase of a full sized bulldozer – a Cat D-8 or perhaps D-6 – might be needed next year. The board mentioned leasing or renting a dozer and continuing to use the old one… electing to cross that bridge when they reached the river next year.
In a final capital purchase the board agreed to purchase two new overhead doors for storage buildings for about $27,000.
In the final item of business, the board considered a report from Director Nathan Ray who, along with Schuh, had attended a meeting with representatives from Madera and Triangle-T Water Districts concerning the possible formation of a new water district. Two dairy families – the Iests and the Diepersloots – with some 9600 acres in the white area of
Madera County are proposing the so-called Bonita Water District. Schuh reminded the group that they had heard this proposal from Brad Samuelson acting as their representative at Chowchilla’s December 11 board meeting, with no action taken then.
A new irrigation district as with any new public body must be approved by LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) which was asking for input from the established water agencies. Ray said LAFCO was looking for guidelines which might serve as precedent for this and future requests. The MID representatives were President Dave Loquaci and board member Tim DaSilva along with staff.
Discussion at the meeting concerned issues about land areas being contiguous, sources of water and the benefit to others outside the proposed district. Welch pointed out that new costs could be imposed on current districts related to the GSP and the required
coordination of GSA activities that would mandate new engineering and legal work. There could be a number of negative consequences of new groups being formed simply to avoid the allocations and costs imposed by the Madera GSA in its governance of the county white areas.
In this Chowchilla meeting, it was suggested a proposed group might be required to identify its water sources, infrastructure, funding including borrowing, bonds and / or proposed 218 votes. Director Karun Samran suggested the formation of a Mutual district might be a useful first step. Schuh said LAFCO wants feedback sooner rather than later and to that end, Dina Nolan, assistant GM at MID would provide bullet points from the discussion at the meeting.
With no other reports from directors, discussion turned to the water year ahead. With Class 1 allocation already announced at 80 percent and Eastman Lake at 91,000 AF, some 80 percent of capacity, there was optimism that even Class 2 water might be available for district growers this year.
As the meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m. President Schuh wanted to acknowledge that at the last meeting he had incorrectly stated that no “multi-benefit land repurposing programs” were available to growers in Chowchilla. He had heard from Stephanie Anagnoson, county director of water and natural resources, pointing out that landowners throughout the county could consider and apply for MLRPs.
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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
