By Don A. Wright
The Exchange Contractors board of directors met on Friday, March 1, 2024 at its Los Banos headquarters and by telephone. As this meeting is taking place a very large snowstorm is heading to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The weather report is
predicting 10-feet of snow at Huntington Lake in Fresno County. Which I believe feeds into the Big Creek power project operated by Southern California Edison and then into the San Joaquin River. Northern California is also expected to receive a big splash of precipitation that will be good for Lake Shasta on the Sacramento River.
Who cares? I’m glad you asked. Many years ago in a land not so far away, actually a land right here in the San Joaquin Valley, two men, Henry Miller and Charles Lux, came from Germany searching for gold. They found it but not by digging in the dirt. They made their gold by purchasing land and raising cattle to sell to those who came to dig in the dirt. Eventually they acquired more than 300,000 acres in California with their headquarters in Los Banos. A good portion of that land had solid, pre-1914 riparian rights to the water from the San Joaquin River.
In the 1930s the federal government wanted to dam the San Joaquin River and dig a canal from Friant to Kern County. In order to do so they had to make whole the landowners with riparian rights on the San Joaquin River. Much of that land was located in what we now know as the Exchange Contractors: Central California Irrigation District, San Luis Canal Company, Firebaugh Canal Water District and the Columbia Canal Company, descended from the Miller & Lux lands.
The feds, specifically the US Bureau of Reclamation had to get these four water entities to exchange their San Joaquin River water with a new source – water from the San Joaquin/Sacramento Rivers Delta. So, they built the Jones Pumping Plant near Tracy and dug a canal to move the water. That canal is known as the Delta Mendota Canal and it runs from the Delta to the Mendota Pools in western Fresno County. That is why the Exchange Contractors are known as the Exchange Contractors.
In the meantime, the town of Millerton on the San Joaquin River was flooded out when Friant Dam was built downstream. In exchange for that they named the reservoir Millerton Lake. There is now a canal from Friant Dam to Kern County known as the Friant Kern Canal.
All that to say this – the Exchange Contractor’s pre-1914 water rights gives them a priority position in getting water that comes through the Delta. When the Exchange Contractors get all the water they need the Bureau doesn’t take it from behind Friant Dam and send it downstream. This means the farms and towns along the Friant Kern Canal get better allocations for their water supplies. That’s who cares.
The Meeting
Things got started at 9:00am exactly with Chairman Chris Cardella calling things to order followed by the salute to the flag of the finest nation on earth. There were no changes to the agenda and everyone in the room introduced themselves followed by those of us on the phone.
Executive Director Chris White took a moment to discuss some historical facts. Let’s see if my stuff matches his far more informed perspective. He said he spoke at Santa Nella recently and was surprised to see how many notable locations are near there. The El Camino Viejo (built in 1770 and parts are still walkable today) was a Spanish highway that went up the westside of the San Joaquin Valley, hugging the foothills. It crossed Cantua Creek where the bandit Joaquin Murrieta was killed by Sheriff Harry Love. Two months before that event Love was on his trail but Murrieta wasn’t at a cabin located at Rancho Gonzaga. However, Three Fingered Jack and the Murrieta gang was in residence. It was early in the morning and someone from the posse walked up to the door and knocked. With a surprise move like that the gang was able to escape although the posse emptied their guns. Only one person was wounded when his horse slipped in the creek and he broke his arm.
There were historical adobe buildings and graves throughout the area. The Santa Nella area was also the site of one of the great construction projects ever, anywhere. In the heat and dust and fog and cold of the Valley over the course of two years – using mules and Fresno Scrapers a canal still in use was completed.
Kim Brown, Director CCC presented Resolution 2024-01 from the Columbia Canal Company to Cardella for his selfless dedication to CCC. Cardella received a round of applause and said when long term General Manager and friend to many of us, Randy Houk passed things were tough. But the new GM Mike Gardner has come on board, is getting up to speed quickly adding stability to the district. Cardella thanked everyone.
Back to the Meeting
The minutes were approved, as were the expenditures. Public comment was next and I was able to make mention of the excellent work being conducted by the California State University system on SGMA research being conducted by Dr. Steve Blumenshine.
The lovely Joann White gave the financial report and did such a wonderful job it was approved.
Water Report
Adam Hoffman, Water Master gave the water report. He said allocations have been announced and Ex Con is at 100 percent. North of Delta allocations are high and Friant is at 60 percent. The State Water Project is at 15 percent but like Friant that is expected to rise.
Hoffman said demands for Ex Con are small as would be expected with this much rain. Lake Shasta is at 2.7 million a/f because they have to make releases for flood control. It was maxing out at 4 million a/f recently. This series of storms is expected to be cold so there will be more snow than rain.
The Jones plant is running all five units and the federal side of San Luis Reservoir is expected to fill. There is an opportunity to send some water to the state side. Millerton Lake is at 300,000 a/f and a good deal of water is headed that way. Pine Flat on the Kings River is at one million a/f but they think there won’t be a big release that could send water to the Mendota Pool. The next Department of Water Resources forecast is expected to be good.
Flood releases from most reservoirs north of the Delta are keeping flows high. A lot is going out to sea right now. An unusually high number of steelhead have been spotted in the Delta and that will trigger a reduction in pumping. The storms should keep the pumps running but a heavy outflow requirement in March most likely will reduce the pumping.
As noted earlier a blizzard is moving into the Central Sierra with10-feet expected at Huntington Lake.
Gov’t Mischief
Ex Con’s federal and state lobbyists were on the phone. Once a quarter they give a detailed report. Reporting on the federal side were Ann and Landon, didn’t catch their last names as their phone-in audio was terrible. Landon said the big news is the congressional leaders have found a deal to split the appropriations into two buckets to help forestall a government shutdown. He expects this will keep some funding for the USBR on track. But there is less optimism for Homeland Security funding. The 2024 budget isn’t finished yet but the powers back in Washington DC are already monkeying around with 2025. That’s
part of why Ex Con took a trip to DC recently to get on the cusp of the 2025 budget wave.
Ann said something but I couldn’t understand much. She said a group came to DC with plans for the Bureau and had a chance to speak with the committee staff. Landon said the overwhelming response from congress and staff was appreciative of Ex Con’s visit as it helped keep them informed in a timely way of what’s happening with federal water in the San Joaquin Valley. Ann said something about the March 5th primary in California. I’ll take it she was urging us to vote. I think she said Senator L. Butler has reaffirmed her commitment to not run for office.
I believe it was Cardella who said Congressman Bruce Westerlund knows how to design and build an irrigation system. Or maybe it was Landon who said that.
On the state side Dominic Dimare said there were no big water bills standing out currently, unlike this time last year. There are bills dealing with water storage capacity and a groundwater basin management bill. He said Assemblywoman Diane Papan has a spot bill, but she is in a learning curve and he hasn’t make contact with her yet. There is a state senate bill dealing with institutional ownership of farmland with water rights. I believe this
might mirror pending federal legislation prohibiting Chinese Communist Party ownership of farmland. Pretty easy decision. There are new financial disclosure requirements proposed. Senator Anna Caballero is looking to extend to 2037 more county control of using flood water for recharge.
Dimare said Papan’s much easier to work with as the new chair of the Parks, Water & Wildlife Committee than the former chair. The new Senate Pro-Tem is going to term out in two-years so his term is a half-life. Dimare said the state’s budget deficit is different depending on who you ask – Governor Gavin Newsom or anybody else. Newsom’s view is much brighter and rosier and optimistic and widely considered as unrealistic. My comment not Dimare’s.
Andy Lynch of Lighthouse Public Affairs gave a communications and public relations report. He said they’ve redone the content on the website and I have to say it looks better. He said they’ve been able to get out op-eds.* Lynch said they are pushing the need for recharge and the Del Puerto Reservoir project.
Executive & Policy Report
In a reset before his report White told folks he was driving down Highway 33 at 30-miles an hour and a three legged chicken was keeping up with him. So he sped up to 60 and the chicken passed him and ran into a farm yard. He followed the bird and met a farmer.
He said, “Did you just see a three legged chicken run past?”
The farmer said, “Yup that’s my chicken.”
White said, “How did you come up with super-fast three legged chickens?”
The farm said, “Well, we didn’t intend for them to be so fast of course. But mother likes the drumstick. Our son likes the drumstick and I like the drumstick. So, I bred some three legged chickens.”
White asked, “That’s an amazing story. How do they taste?”
The farmer said, “Don’t know. Haven’t been able to catch one yet.”
White said since so much of his report was already on the agenda he’ll turn it over to Steve Chedester, Director of Policy and Programs. Chedester said work on Sac Dam is continuing. The Bay/Delta Program had some workshops with the National Academy of Science. Not much new on the State Board but for further attention to the Voluntary Agreements. There is a workshop on this subject scheduled for the last week of April and that will have implications for everyone involved with Delta operations.
The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley has a new Chair, Dr. Eddie Ocampo and Vice Chair, Geoff Vandenheuvel.
Chedester said meters and pipes are being installed at the Del Puerto Dam project, if I understood. A $1.1 million federal grant is heading that way. The Orestimba Creek project’s California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act permitting is moving along. But CEQA is going faster than NEPA.
Water Transfer
Ex Con transfers water now and then to help neighbors. White went over the program with the board. San Luis Canal Company wants to transfer 8,000 a/f to Del Puerto Water District, Triangle T Water District and Westlands Water Districts as part of a land fallowing program. SLCC also wants a groundwater transfer of up to 853 a/f to go to San Luis Water District, Del Puerto WD and Panoche WD. Also SLCC wants to move 5,000 a/f to Panoche WD under the Eastside Conveyance Project. If the Ex Con board approves this it will be forwarded to the USBR for further approval.
Ex Con is also looking at a long-term water acquisition agreement with Firebaugh Canal WD, CCID and Panoche WD for 3,000 a/f. The board approved all the transfer agreements.
SGMA
Jarret Martin, General Manager CCID spoke on SGMA saying the Exchange Contractors GSA will submit to the State Board it will not allow any more than two feet of subsidence anywhere in the subbasin, save Mendota Dam. He said they are running into push back from the State Board staff who seem unable to imagine any management of groundwater without allocations and demand reduction. The ECGSA is looking at reducing pumping from under the clay layer as a way to get State Board staff on board. This is a way to try and keep the local farming community from losing too much. He said without enough surface water coming into the area recharge for groundwater is difficult. John Wiersma, GM SLCC said working with the subsidence heavy areas holds some promise. The Outside Canal is at risk of a blowout if subsidence isn’t corrected.
Cardella thanked staff for the work they’re doing on this. He asked if getting permits from the Regional Board has sped up any. I think I heard not really.
Mendota Pool Group
Next White said for the past 24-years Ex Con has been working with the Mendota Pool Group Pumpers. He said subsidence, groundwater balance and migration of water is of concern. Engineers take a look at what has been happening and make recommendations.
Chedester walked the board through the recommendations report. There was no transfer pumping last year and a lot of recharge. They put a lot of water back into the ground last year. This year they want to transfer 3,800 a/f and an additional 8,100 a/f. When other
pumping was taken into consideration the MPG is asking to pump less than the recommended maximum. The board approved.
More Gov’t Mischief, This Time in the Delta
Attorney/consultant Dave Cory reported the State Board required its staff to bring together an expert panel to look at the coastal farming’s impact on nitrate on groundwater. Cory said it will most likely take a year to convene the panel and he expects this to be a challenge because the opinions will impact all of the state.
An internal peer review panel is also being called and the citizens have no input on who sits on this panel. This could be a very big problem even though this isn’t a panel of experts its findings still have impacts on the nitrate in groundwater program.
Cory said SGMA and groundwater quality is still hanging out there. The State Board staff is hopefully pushing to separate the two silos. SGMA and the Irrigated Lands Programs have to separate so those with the water quality obligations can respond. Martin said there are those in Sacramento who want all the efforts to be put in the SGMA water quality basket. A basket that doesn’t exist. SGMA wasn’t written to directly treat water quality. Achieving SGMA success will improve water quality as a benefit to reaching that goal.
Community Infrastructure Fund
White said Ex Con has been searching for a way to support the local community with funding for water supply, reliability, water quality and flood control. He asked Attorney Andy McClure to speak on this.
McClure said there is a way to use funds from the transfer program but Ex Con can’t give away a gift of public funds. But it can do the things an irrigation district does. He said he wants to establish policy and criteria to keeps things transparent and within the regulatory framework. Then if some hostile to ag group or individual wants to challenge the funding Ex Con has a legal ground to stand on. McClure said the objectives and purposes in a limited geographic area needs to be defined. He said Ex Con isn’t setting this up to give money to programs in San Diego, or anywhere else outside Ex Con’s boundaries. However, if there is a project within the area that would benefit Ex Con it could be included provided there’s a hydrological conductivity that would justify the area participating. When you read about farmers in the mainstream press you usually hear quotes from pseudo justice warriors
about greedy corporate/industrial farmers – not these kinds of actions. No one put a gun to Ex Con’s collective heads and forced them to give back to the community. But they did.
Funding will come from two percent of the income from water transfers, after the bills are paid. And after the maintenance of the fund is paid the remaining money will be made available to the approved program. A committee to oversee this fund will be made up of two Ex Con Directors. The committee will review the applications for following the guidelines and make recommendations to the Ex Con board. There is no obligation to make an award for a specific amount every year. The application review will be much like that of looking over a contract. There will be specific criteria and amounts awarded with a performance table for block or incremental payouts. The program will be reviewed every five years and can be ended by the board anytime. He said he doesn’t want to make more policy for policy’s sake but he does want to be sure this program is successful and that not just some guessing game. The board approved.
San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority
White told the board with the passing of Houk, Brown has stepped up as the Alternate for Division Three. Now is the time to officially appoint Gardner and the board did so.
Attorney Report
The Sierra Club and some Friant folks have not yet withdrawn their suits against the Del Puerto Dam project. There are also suits over SGMA. All of the 26 GSAs are working towards an MOU. That was about it for open session.
Four Managers Report
Martin said ephemeral creek flooding has caused concern for CCID but thankfully last year’s work has helped prevent problems.
Wiersma said deliveries have been under average for February due to rain. They are quickly wrapping up construction and the system is ready to go. There will be a March 28 annual meeting and everyone’s welcome. He said J. Scott Petersen will be speaking at both his annual meeting and the CCID annual meeting on the same day. Petersen is an indispensable member of the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority staff.
Jeff Bryant, GM FCWD said some irrigation deliveries have been hampered by flooding of Silver Creek in the past. They have established a project list and budget and are working hard to fix this matter. A 218 Election will be coming up.
Gardner said CCC is ready to start deliveries on this coming Monday and CCC is ready to rock n roll into the irrigation season.
Information & Closed Session
White said on March 29th there will be a tour with Santa Clare Valley WD. The Westside Water Authority will have a tour in April and he expects that to be a good opportunity to make better connections. ACWA is coming up in Sacramento in May. Also in Sacramento there will be a retirement dinner for Ernest Conant, who will be leaving the Bureau.
At 11:02am the open session adjourned and will restart in closed session for seven items. They got almost everything in there. Existing litigation, pending and expected litigation, administrative hearings and real estate negotiations. Everything but personnel issues.
So, that was it for Ex this fine, wet March. We got some history and by the way, I wrote my intro touching on the historical before the meeting began. I used to live on the westside of the Valley and as a kid many of us thought our home was named after Murrieta and not Saint Joaquin. The history of sprawling ranches, cowboys, bandits – there’s much more to this part of the planet than just growing food. Anyway, go be good to each other and yourself and thank you for reading this far.
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.
* I haven’t seen any of them so they can’t be that well read in the farm irrigation community. Perhaps they should send them to WaterWrights.net.
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, James L. Nickel-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.
