By Don A. Wright
The board of directors of the Consolidated Irrigation District met at its Selma headquarters on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. Before the regular meeting there was a Central Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency meeting with the CID board sitting as CKGSA Directors. A big part of this meeting dealt with a domestic well mitigation program and it was literally standing room only. Attorney Lauren Layne said the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is being tossed around by the State Water Resources Control Board in regards to domestic well mitigation.
Well Mitigation
Some highlights of the proposed mitigation program are either the CKGSA or possibly a contractor such as Provost & Pritchard Engineering or Self Help Enterprises will administer the program. Only landowners or participants in a trust/living trust will be able to apply. Applicants will be pre-screen to ensure complete compliance.
These are the criteria to determine eligibility:
- The wells must be domestic or part of a State Small Water System. There is only a handful of state systems in the CKGSA and the number of domestic wells eligible was estimated at about 400.
- The wells must go dry due to surrounding pumping. Poor casings, clogged screens or other mechanical issues are not up for consideration.
- The well must be less than 50-years old.
- The well must have been legally permitted.
These are the proposed prioritization of wells:
- The well is non-operational.
- The well is at reduced capacity.
- The well is non-operational but the household has an alternate water supply.
- The well is operational but failure is imminent.
Eligible wells will get an interim supply at no cost and a zero interest rate loan may be available. The landowner will secure a driller that is approved by CKGSA and CKGSA may provide a loan to destroy an abandoned well.
In other legal news Layne said since the Chevron Deference ruling applies to federal government regulations it will have a very small impact on California. Almost all state laws and regulations are universally tougher than federal standards. For instance, the US Bureau of Reclamation follows California water laws which subjects it to certain endangered species considerations.
In Madera County a Prop 218 lawsuit had an impact from another case. There was a
separate ruling that found you don’t have standing if you don’t pay a fee. The folks who sued over the 218 election have never paid the fee. There wasn’t a regular superior court judge on the Madera County bench who didn’t own property in the county. Therefore they had to recuse themselves and the only one available was a Family Court Judge who made the initial ruling to place an injunction against paying the fees. It’s a mess.
The Meeting
At 1:43pm Chairman Ray Moles called the CID meeting to order and began by apologizing publicly for a comment he made month before last directed towards a fellow director. A rare show of humbleness by a public official and one of the reasons covering water agencies is so rewarding to me. These are public servants, elected to office and they swear the same oath as the President of the United States. When’s the last time you’ve heard an elected official admit they weren’t perfect, let alone ask for forgiveness. Good for Chairman Moles. After the meeting I heard from a witness what was said the context it was said in. I usually blurt out worse than that on a daily basis. But the point was Moles stayed true to his convictions.
Action Items
The board passed three almost identical resolutions authorizing billing assessments for land in Tulare, Kings and Fresno Counties. This was without comment and very routine. Fresno County wants a Special District data sheet provided by CID and the board said yes dear.
Auditing services were next considered. CID received two proposals for new auditors.
Deputy General Manager Mike Carbajal explained the previous auditor Price/Page had also provided new accounting system recommendations. That meant a different firm should be used to avoid any conflicts. It is also common to swap out auditors every few years. One of the bids was $12,000 and the other one was $24,000. However, the higher figure will be able to complete the service in a much more timely manner. There’s a saying my friend hydrogeologist Chris Johnson has, “You can have it cheep. You can have it quick. You can have it quality. Choose two.”
The proposal is for one year only. Director Tom Chandler asked if it would be a good idea to hire whoever wins the bid to get the all the audit related matters wrapped up. Evidently CID is behind the deadlines to get this situation finished. Carbajal said the firm of Price/Page indicated its last fee was too small to pencil out well for its costs to perform the audit. General Manager Phil Desatoff said this need was revealed at the last minute. Layne said there is always the ability to put out a bid request for multi year audits next year. The board selected the lower bid.
Public Hearing
At 1:59pm the board stopped the meeting and shifted to a public hearing regarding the 2025 assessments. The hearing was closed at 2:02pm as there were no public comments. That was easy.
Water Report
Desatoff reported that by August 1st there should be 53,000 a/f in storage minus a couple of things such as cold water – the Temperature Control Pool that will end up with about 30,000 a/f that could be used for a 15-day run in August. The board could also hold over the water.
Director Paul Sihota said at last month’s meeting the board was told there was enough water to run through August. Director Greg Thonesen said he remembers the board wanting to get all the supplies to growers during August.
Desatoff said the problem with water estimates is things change. The amount of Kings River storage the district expected was 75,000 a/f ended up being 61,000 a/f. Moles asked why. Desatoff said this year is an average year and that means 75,000 a/f. However, the way allocations of supplies on the Kings River are divided and when, is very much impacted by temperature. Inflow to Pine Flat slowed in June after a fast May and much of that runoff went to crops or recharge. Desatoff said ideally the CID water behind Pine Flat Dam should
be zero at the end of the irrigation season. That way every year the storage can be fully utilized.
Grower Gary Serrato, also former GM of Fresno ID, said estimating is an imprecise science. In his opinion CID’s management and board has exercised the best possible management of supplies they could. He also urged the board to take the supplies down as low as it can go.
To complicate things, if I heard correctly, Desatoff said CID is one of the Kings River entities that can, under certain circumstances, dip into its TCP. That is up to Steve Haugen, the Kings River Water Master and Executive Director of the Kings River Water Association.
GM Report
Desatoff said CID is posed to purchase 40-acres of sandy soil to help reach its recharge property goals. There are a couple of old houses and a barn that sounded like they are in poor conditions and will be torn down.
Under project updates Desatoff said the Tombstone Pond is getting ready to go. Carbajal said there is some water in it but getting the monitoring finished is still more than a week away. He said all of the other current projects are finished or the punch list is being address. Desatoff said fencing around the properties are almost finished. The district is also selling property.
Desatoff said Congressman Jim Costa put in a funding request for the Upper Kings River districts to get $20 million. Ok, good deal Jim. Between CID, FID and Alta ID – CID should get $7 million. Chandler said there should be signage pointing out this money is taxpayer funded work taking place.
Floodwater Recharge
Thonesen said the landowner floodwater recharge program’s committee is ready to unveil the draft for either adoption or kick it out to next month. Desatoff noted there has been only minor edits. Layne said the fees within this program are subject to setting along with other district fees. This is a six page document, not too bad a read and the reason the room was so packed.
Sihota asked how this is sitting with the other GSAs in the Kings Subbasin. Desatoff said the other GSAs are not ready for this type of program and question why take this step now. He said since this program is subject to the will of the CID board and can be stopped if it causes trouble, the other GSAs are OK.
Serrato commented on what he saw as some shortfalls on the proposed policy. He wanted clarification on how credits were accrued and asked why would there be additional fees like conveyance included. He said a small, administrative fee is reasonable but the growers are already paying conveyance. He also asked why water testing is on the back of the growers. He said any land over a contamination plume should be prohibited from recharging anyway. His point is he wants to know he’s covered during the dry years to pump. He expressed his personal opinion there won’t be enough land dedicated to recharge if grower land isn’t incorporated and therefore more incentives are needed.
Grower Steve Jackson said the goal is to keep as much flood year water in the Kings Subbasin as possible. He said everyone needs to bank water during floods and runoff to protect themselves for dry years. He said Consolidated growers have to build their credits. If they don’t someone else will use it down stream.
Another grower Bryan Tamazian said the assessments are going to have to increase if the needed recharge infrastructure is going to be in place to get the district sustainable under SGMA by 2040.
Another gentleman asked if CID doesn’t get its act together and loses water downstream – will it be liable in the future if say a domestic well goes dry? Certainly some details to be looked at. Director Tony Lewis asked how many acres of recharge basins does CID have. Desatoff said currently there is more than 300 acres if I heard correctly. The district needs another 1,000 acres to fully utilize its canal capacity for recharge. Lewis said his point is to be ready for everything, even the 30-year flood runoff. Thonesen said he supports keeping as much in CID as possible and he supports maximizing all aspects of recharge in an accelerated manner.
Desatoff said he thinks a programmatic EIR would come in handy to back up its claim to Kings River water rights. There is a lawsuit before the State Board’s Office of Administrative something or other. It’s been so long since I’ve heard anything about this I forgot the name. Semitropic Water District filed a claim on Kings River water and that was challenged by the KRWA and has been on hold for quite some time. This could impact the long term results.
Tamazian said he’ll pledge 100-acres for flood water on his property. He said go around and ask the landowners and he predicts there will be a volunteered 1,000 or more acres participating. Serrato said two dry years will have growers camping out to sign up. When and if pumping restrictions come it’ll get even worse.
Desatoff said if the GSA reaches minimum thresholds pumping restrictions are coming. Serrato said that is why proactive incentives are needed now. Folks were generally in agreement the water and the credits remain not just in the subbasin but within CID and a farmer/landowner recharge plan is in place. Layne reminded everyone this document is an amendment to existing policy.
Jackson said he’s seen similar problems on the Kern River. The reason there is a water rights challenges on the Kings River is because the KRWA members didn’t take all the water available. Another grower said he’ll sign up another 100-acres right now credits or not. The point being having grower participation is key. Another grower said he doesn’t have an extra 100-acres but he is in a position to provide right of way to get the water to recharge areas.
This opened the door to others saying there needs to be another 218 election to raise the district assessments. Chandler wants it on the future agenda. Serrato said you should consider expanding the district to areas that only pump. He said Madera ID does this with subordinate lands and if flood water is available there are then more areas to sink it. Thonesen asked Serrato if he’d help with a 218 election, and you heard it here – he said yes, but only as a farmer.
Thonesen said he wants to move this forward in the committee. Instead of agendizing this every month he wants to bring it back for further discussion. The meeting went into closed session at 3:31pm and that was that.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2024 by Don A. Wright
CONSOLIDATED IRRIGATION DISTRICT – 2255 Chandler St, Selma, CA 93662 Telephone; 559/896-1660
CID covers 145,000 acres mostly in South Central Fresno County. Surface water supplies: Kings River CID is its own GSA
General Manager – Phil Desatoff, Attorney – Doug Jensen, Water Master – Walt Frost, Controller – Tonya Ruiz
Board of Directors – President Ray Moles, Tony Lewis, Tom Chandler, Greg Thonesen, Paul Sihota
