By Don A. Wright
The Exchange Contractors board of directors met at its Los Banos headquarters on Friday, June 5, 2026 and by telephone. For a reason I don’t know the meeting began at 9:00am and was adjourned until 1:30pm. It sounded like Mike Stearns was chairing the meeting. Stearns is Vice-Chair and Chris Cardella is Chair. Not sure where Cardella was.
The Meeting
Things kicked off at 1:30pm with approval of the minutes and review of the agenda. This was followed by Executive Director Chris White starting self-introductions and the usual crew was there. I thought I heard Dan Nelson was in the room. It’s always exciting when he shows up and you’ll see why in a moment.
Finances
Marisol Bonilla Reynoso gave the expense and budget report. That was approved. Good for her.
Item 12 – An Old Map
The agenda order was changed to accommodate the visitors who were in attendance. Nelson is the first and former Executive Director of the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority. He started working for Bowles Farming out of school and the San Luis Water District and managed the old Broadview Irrigation District before taking over the SLDMWA. Nelson is also a historian and Los Banos is a hot bed of history. He now works with the Milliken Museum Society.
There is an old, vintage map of the San Joaquin Valley holdings of the Miller & Lux property and includes all the other features from the year 1900 such as what type of crops where grown, who owned other land, the cities and even the sloughs. Nelson said this is a unique document but at 125 years old it was starting to fade and the material was becoming brittle. He said he and White found a restoration company in Oakland that could restore the map.
Evidently the map is large, and Nelson said transporting the map was a challenge. Nelson’s presentation included a power point but of course that didn’t really pop on the telephone. Exposure to light and some damage from mildew were found on the map and the Oakland company did a remarkable job of restoring the document. The restored map was photographed and digitized. Having this data digitized has been a boon for historical research.
However, the restoration wasn’t free. The cost was $15,867. Ex Con has a Community Infrastructure Program that awards grant funding for particular projects in the Ex Con area. White asked the board to award the expense for the map restoration and they were happily unanimous in doing so.
There are also plans in the work to build a new combination museum/office complex for the SLDMWA and Ex Con in Los Banos. If I understood correctly the ball is in the court of the City of Los Banos.
Water Report
Next Adam Hoffman gave the water report saying allocations have been increased by five percent up to 25 percent for US Bureau of Reclamation South of Delta agriculture interests. The State Water Project also has been bumped up to 35 percent South of Delta. He said demand for the last month was very close to last year’s May demands. There were some rain and cooler temperatures towards the end of the month.
There is 146 cubic feet per second of San Joaquin River water flowing past Sac Dam. This should drop to closer to 100 cfs for the remainder of the summer. Sacramento Valley demands jumped up in May and Shasta Dam is releasing more than 6,000 cfs. They expect 2.2 million acre feet in storage by September.
San Luis Reservoir is at 128 percent of average. Inflow to Millerton like is 3,000 or so cfs and storage is at half a million a/f. That has pretty much maxed out. Upstream on the SJR is still good and there could be more releases from Mammoth Pool and Edison Lake by the end of the summer. Maybe 125,000 a/f. Hoffman said they’ll know more in a few weeks.
In the Delta, both the DWR and USBR plants were pumping at minimum but then went up. It was hoped more pumping would be allowed but the Sacramento Valley demands for rice water slowed things down. This is about over. There may be a slim change for increased allocations south of Delta. It didn’t sound like anyone was holding their breath. White said they’re hopeful but it looks like a 50/50 chance.
Ex Direct
White said the golden mussel is the focus at this time. Central California Irrigation District is all in. Steve Chedester, Director Policy & Procedure reported mussels have gotten into some filter tanks if I heard correctly. Jeff Bryant, GM Firebaugh Canal Water Authority said no stone is being left unturned in the search for a solution.
White said the USBR is looking at a design/build for the southern portion of the Delta Mendota Canal. He also said the State Board has turned the Delta Mendota Subbasin back to Department of Water Resources. John Wiersma, GM San Luis Canal said the domestic well mitigation program is now close to unveiling and the long-term agreements between CCID and the Triangle T Water District have been reached and signed.
White said the Firebaugh River Trail is being partly financed by the Ex Con program and should be finished by this summer.
There is $16 million from the Department of Interior they are trying to get to the Ex Con Water Resources Plan. There are a couple of State Board issues to clear up the Del Puerto Dam situation. White said the Action Five order has been very helpful this year and the Voluntary Agreements are still moving forward.
Policy & Procedure
Chedester said the SJR fish screen is still happening but as has been the case funding is moving forward. He said the Bay Delta Program doesn’t have much beyond the Voluntary Agreement. The Water Blueprint has changed the Executive Committee a bit. The Unified Water Plan’s final chapter is out for public comment. Orestimba Creek and the Los Banos Creek projects have made gains and some construction has taken place.
Water Transfer
Next White explained there are two more applications by CCID since last month and the transfer committee recommends approval. This will be moving banked water recovered and a transfer from a CCID well field to Del Puerto WD to help take care of a land fill during this lower allocated year. The board approved.
Bay Delta
David Cory wasn’t able to attend but his report is in the packet. Cory is a farmer and an attorney who helps Ex Con keep track of the mischief taking place in Sacramento. Everything from nitrate regulations to Regional Board rulings.
Legislative Report
Chedester said AB 1662 water rights fees and CEQA exemption for recharge didn’t make it through the legislative process. There are a couple of support letters that need to be written for some of the favorable bills still moving through the process.
White said on the federal side a group of representatives from the SLDMWA will be visiting Washington DC to talk up what’s needed here in the Valley.
Attorney’s Report
Andy McClure reported one item of litigation resulted in a good win for Ex Con. A motion to dismiss was upheld by the court. I’m not sure which case was being referred to. He received a letter from the mighty Tom Berliner on the SJR restoration program saying there are more windows opening to challenge the flow regimes. He also said AB 236 could have impacts on the Orestimba Creek water rights procedure. He said it looks like the State Water Contractors are behind this bill since it gets them what they want for Delta operations. If I understand it limits the responses to flooding on tributary rivers. Flood waters would be forced to continue downstream to the Delta. The San Joaquin and not the Sacramento River is the only river impacted by this.
Four Managers Report
Bryant reported heading into summer deliveries and they are working hard to keep up with mussels and aquatic weeds. The mussels pose a direct threat to pumps. He’s paying careful attention to one pump on the Delta Mendota Canal particularly vulnerable to mussels.
Wiersma said May was just a bit ahead of demand. The budget was wrapped up recently and there is a big $2.5 million canal lining project. They are also working on upgrading a building for the entity. Those were the only two verbal reports.
Informational & Closed Session
Next month’s meeting will be moved from July 4th to July 1st for obvious reasons. Then something happened I don’t recall having experienced in more than 20-years of Ex Con coverage. There was no closed session. I’ve always heard if you hold a meeting on a Friday afternoon it generally makes for shorter meetings, maybe that’s true. In any event, that’s that for this month’s Ex Con. Go be good to yourselves and each other.
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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, Marisol Bonilla Reynoso – 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.
