By Don A. Wright
The Exchange Contractors board of directors met on Friday, August 2, 2024 at its Los Banos headquarters and by telephone. Most times for the past who knows how many years the first meeting of the month has been the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority – to use the outfit’s full name. I’ve referred to them as Ex Con for so long it sounds normal to me. Although it’s important to note the men and women who work for and with – don’t resemble most of the people I know who have done time in prison.
Starting the month with Ex Con is a good way to go. They have some of the oldest and most secure water rights in the state. The federal Central Valley Project owes a lot of its existence to Ex Con. This history and scope brings a perspective to the discussions and issues covered in the meeting that sets a good pace for the month. I like strong coffee in the morning and starting the month with Ex Con is like strong, mental, water policy flavored coffee to get things going.
I also see Cannon Michael has stepped in as the Director for San Luis Canal Company. Michael is also the Chair of the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority of which Ex Con is a member of. For as long as I can remember Jim Nickel sat in that seat. Mr. Nickel once opened my eyes. Many years ago I received an early phone call on a Saturday morning. Nickel was upset with me over something I wrote. I don’t recall what it was I had sent out the day before in the Ex Con report, but I do recall the way I wrote it – while not a quote – it did read as though Nickel had cast dispersions upon one of Senator Diane Feinstein’s top staffers.
I learned three things from that conversation: Jim Nickel can employ a salty vocabulary if warranted, I needed to change my message to state quotes are only quotes when in quotation marks and attributed and – who knew? Senator Feinstein, or at least her staff, were reading what I was writing. A while later Jim and I wound up at the Vinyard Restaurant in Madera and since we were both alone we shared a table and visited. He doesn’t hold a grudge and if you read this Jim – thank you for having the decency to contact me directly with a problem over something I wrote. That goes to all of you. If you see an error or have a question, let me know. I’d much rather deal with it directly than find out later I’ve soured a potential relationship over a misunderstanding.
The Meeting
Before the regular board meeting Ex Con holds its Groundwater Sustainability Agency meeting. At 9:00am on the dot the meeting was called to order by Chairman Chris
Cardella. Executive Director Chris White said there needs to be a change of date for the September meeting and that was approved. So were the minutes.
Everyone introduced themselves and things got underway with the wise and lovely Joanne White giving the expenditures, budget comparisons, and financial reports. This report is public information and if you’d like an accurate account of it – look it up. Unless something strange is going on the overwhelming majority of financial transactions that take place at a district controlled by farmers are clean.
Water Report
Water Master Adam Hoffman said as August starts releases on the San Joaquin River at Friant Dam are at 90 cubic feet per second (cfs) and should remain during the rest of the summer. Releases at Shasta are placing that reservoir in good position for next year and there should be pumping at the Delta. Hoffman said the San Luis Reservoir has more than 400,000 a/f in federal storage. That still raises the question – why is there close to half a million acre feet in SLR while South of Delta ag users are having to pump
groundwater during the age of SGMA? If you know clue me in. Upstream storage above Millerton Lake on the San Joaquin River is at more than half a million acre feet.
Hoffman reported those looking into the major electrical problem at the intertie pumps on the San Luis Delta Mendota Canal and the California Aqueduct have identified the root of the problem and repairs are underway and the situation should be resolved by some time next week. Good for them.
Executive Director’s Report
White reported the San Joaquin River Restoration Plan has once again ran out of money. This has been an ongoing problem since the two decade long lawsuit and legislation was completed back earlier in this century. It’s been a while and I don’t recall the exact year. White said this will hamper the efforts to have the salmon return to below Friant Dam because there’s no money for the needed infrastructure improvements. White said the problem isn’t as much as insufficient allocation of funds by the feds – inflation has eaten away the spending power.
White said a medium year following a wet year with a possible dry year has prompted better transparency in allocation forecasts, with an emphasis on Shasta releases. Also, Congressman John Duarte will be holding a congressional field hearing in Santa Nella on Friday September 6th. That’s going to be something worth attending. White said under the SGMA portion of the day Ex Con’s GSA has turned in a revised Groundwater Sustainability Plan to the State Water Resources Control Board. Let’s pray for good results.
The reconsultation on Delta operations is being impacted by the Voluntary Agreements, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and the biological opinions. This will all come together and have a good deal to do with water allocations. White said Ex Con is keeping a very close eye on this process and submitting comments. He said it would be difficult to overestimate the impacts on water supply.
Policy Report
Director of Policy Steve Chedester reported White’s report on the Delta covered what he was going to say. He added the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin needs a cash infusion to keep the ball rolling at full speed.
Chedester said the California Department of Fish & Wildlife has returned some permit applications for clarification on the Orestimba Creek project. Those have been rewritten and resubmitted. The comment period will soon start.
White said he’s learning a lot about dirt in relationship to the design of the Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir project design. He said he got to geek out on the subject and believe it or not it can be fascinating. Good for him. The road realignment required in this project has achieved the 30-percent mark.
Gov’t Mischief
Consultant Dave Cory said a butt load of state agencies including the State Board and the California Department of Food & Agriculture have hired a consultant, Crowe LLP, to help them streamline data collection and such. It’d be nice to think this is an effort to improve government. I haven’t heard of Crowe LLP. Does this firm have any knowledge of what is happening in the San Joaquin Valley water and agriculture? This could have some real and negative impacts on the CV Salts and nitrogen regulations under the Irritated Lands program. Maybe this effort will improve how government functions and reduce the redundancy that pervades so much of the onerous regulatory reporting requirements. We’ll see.
More Gov’t Mischief
White reported the state legislature is on vacation until next week. Before they left town they got a $10 billion bond on the November ballot that doesn’t offer much water funds and was considered disappointing by most of the folks who have seen a half century of
proposed water bonds that have very little money for water. Seriously, there have been water bonds that paid for soccer fields in Southern California. White also said Congressmen Duarte and Vince Fong have pending legislation to improve dredging in and around the Delta area. That could be a relatively straightforward way to improve water supply and conveyance.
Attorney Report
Andrew McClure of the Minassian Law Firm of Chico reported the unimpaired flow standard proposed as a Delta operation plan will reduce water supplies to South of Delta agriculture by 60 percent if I heard him correctly. There is an alternate plan that isn’t so insane.
McClure said the Kings County Farm Bureau sued the State Board and received a temporary restraining order, TRO, preventing the State Board from implementing its probationary decision on the Tulare Lake Subbasin. It’s not the silver bullet against SGMA’s unintended consequences but it is a pause button.
Manager’s Reports
Jeff Bryant, General Manager Firebaugh Canal Water District said the peak demand may be over for the summer. He’s found energy is one of the biggest hurdles he’s facing this season.
John Wiersma, GM SLCC said he expects a drop off at some point later this month. Demand is big but hyacinth has been a major challenge in clogging the ditches. There has been progress on groundwater in his district.
Jarrett Martin, GM Central California Irrigation District reported some record deliveries during a very hot July. There was so much flow introduced to the district’s canals there was some erosion that added turbidity to the supplies.
Cardella reported for Columbia Canal Company’s GM Mike Gardner who is recovering from an injury and Cardella pretty much echoed the other managers – high deliveries and weeds.
Info & Closed Session
White reported Congressman Jim Costa is holding a water conference at Fresno State on August 7th and that will be followed by the California Water Alliance program in Fresno. See the flyer below. It’s going to be a barn burner of a good show. White also said there are more tours through the area coming up this month. Tours are a good way of learning about how the system works.
The meeting was adjourned to closed session at 9:46am for seven items regarding either lawsuits, personnel matters or real property negotiations. That may be a record for an Ex Con meeting. They used to last for a while. I seem to recall sitting through more than a few three-hour long sessions. Ok, so that was that for Ex Con this month. Go be good to each other and yourselves.
DISCLAIMER OF RESPONSIBILITY; Waterwrights.net strives to provide its clients with the most complete, up-to-date, and accurate information available. Nevertheless, Waterwrights.net does not serve as a guarantor of the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and specifically disclaims any and all responsibility for information that is not accurate, up-to-date, or complete. Waterwrights.net’s clients therefore rely on the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of information from DAW entirely at their own risk. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not represent any advertisers or third parties.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2024 by WaterWrights.net/DAW
SAN JOAQUIN RIVER EXCHANGE CONTRACTORS WATER AUTHORITY
Main Office: 541 H Street, P.O. Box 2115 Los Banos, CA 93653 Office 209/827-8616 www.sjrecwa.net Email: contactus@sjrecwa.net
DWR SGMA Identifier #5-022.07
The Exchange Contractors cover almost a quarter of a million acres in Fresno, Madera, Merced and Stanislaus Counties.
Mission Statement
The Exchange Contractors Water Authority mission is to effectively protect the Exchange Contract and maximize local water supply, flexibility and redundancy in order to maintain local control over the members’ water supply.
Board
Chris Cardella -Chair Columbia Canal Company, Mike Stearns-Vice Chair Director Firebaugh Canal Water District, Cannon Michael-Treasurer San Luis Canal Company, Eric Fontana- Director Central California Irrigation District
Staff
Chris White-Executive Director, Steve Chedester- Director Policies & Programs, Adam Hoffman-Water Resources Specialist, Joann White-Director Finance and Human Resources, Darlene O’Brien- Administrative Assistant, Andy McClure-Attorney Minasian Law Firm.
History
From the Exchange Contractors’ website: www.sjrecwa.net The San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors hold some of the oldest water rights in the state, dating back to the late 1800s. The rights were established by Henry Miller of the legendary Miller and Lux cattle empire. In 1871, Henry Miller constructed canals to divert water from the San Joaquin and North Fork of the Kings Rivers for irrigation of his vast acreage. Today, several of the original Miller and Lux canals are operated by the Exchange Contractors.
Although Henry Miller’s canals served the irrigation needs of his estate in the western portion of Fresno, Madera, Merced, and Stanislaus counties, in order for more growth on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley to occur, more water was needed. In 1933, the United States Department of Interior undertook the Central Valley Project, a vast undertaking to build dams throughout the great Central Valley including the Sacramento, American and San Joaquin Rivers. When construction of the Friant Dam (north of Fresno) was under consideration, feasibility studies showed that irrigation development of the Friant Project between Chowchilla and Bakersfield depended upon water being diverted from the San Joaquin River at Friant Dam and brought to the east side of the valley, via the Friant-Kern Canal.
To accomplish this, the government asked the heirs of Miller and Lux to agree to “exchange” where they receive their pre-1914 appropriative and riparian water from the San Joaquin and Kings Rivers for guaranteed deliveries of “substitute” water from the Sacramento River by means of the Delta-Mendota Canal and other facilities of the United States. This agreement, known as the “Exchange Contract,” along with the accompanying “Purchase Contract,” were reached in 1939 and that led to the name “San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors.” In normal years, the Exchange Contractors are guaranteed 100% of their contractual water allotment (840,000 acre feet) and in critical years the amount is 75% (650,000 a/f).
The Exchange Contractors, however, did not abandon their San Joaquin River water rights. Instead, they agreed not to exercise those San Joaquin and Kings Rivers’ water rights if guaranteed water deliveries continued through the Delta-Mendota Canal or other facilities of the United States.
