By Don A. Wright
The Friant Water Authority board of directors met at the Bello Vita Event Venue in Visalia on Friday, December 13, 2024. Visalia is a fair location for the meetings. FWA extends from Chowchilla to South of Bakersfield and this venue cuts down on travel for those at either end. This was a short meeting, including the earlier closed session portion. Well, that often happens this time of year. Even in my time of reporting on water I’ve seen the pace of things increase. There was a time when many districts would
pretty much shut down between Christmas and New Year’s and leave just a skeleton crew. I don’t hear of that as much.
The Meeting
After closed session the regular portion of the meeting began at 10:01am with Vice Chair Rick Borges running things. Director Cliff Loeffler gave an opening prayer thanking the Creator of the universe and asking for wisdom. The reason Chairman Jim Erickson wasn’t running the meeting was because he wasn’t reelected to his seat on the Madera Irrigation District. FWA Executive Director Jason Phillips and the Friant staff presented Erickson with a plaque. There was true warmth in the room. I think his steady hand and commitment, including all the time required, will be missed. Erickson received a standing ovation. I believe MID Director Dave Loquaci will now represent MID on the Friant Board. The consent calendar was approved and that includes the minutes and paying the bills.
Action Items
Legal Giant Don Davis opened with stating since in it is California the elections linger on. The new officers are Borges – Chair, Kelley Hampton – Vice Chair and Josh Pitigliano – Secretary.
Ian Buck-Macleod reported by audio on a proposed Memorandum Of Understanding establishing an Interconnected Surface Water Working Group. The MOU includes: Friant, the US Bureau of Reclamation, San Joaquin River Restoration Administration, several Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in Madera and Fresno Counties. They will collaboratively study, review and analyze interconnected surface water impacts on the upper reaches of the SJR below Friant Dam. Buck-Macleod said this isn’t cash out of pocket for Friant, rather in kind contributions. The actual MOU is available on the FWA website.
Director Edwin Camp asked about the potential of having this used against agriculture in the Friant Division and it sounded like the opposite is the case. To call back to Davis – this is California and unfortunately this is a question that must be asked. The board’s concerns were answered and it voted to approve.
CFWC
Mike Wade, California Farm Water Coalition gave the board a presentation saying his organization was formed 35-years ago to serve as the third leg of a stool – to educate the
public on ag water and food. He said the other two legs are legal and legislative. The CFWC is supported largely by special ag water districts and is well respected – and is wise enough to let its donors know where their money is going. It responds to inaccurate news stories as well as telling ag’s story to the state’s urban populace. It advertises on Facebook and X Tweets all the time. It also operates the Cultivate California outreach program. Good for them.
Water Ops
Buck-Macleod was up again – by phone. He apologized for not being able to be there. He said November was unusual. Going from a dry state to a much wetter Northern California. Precipitation in the north was 130 percent of normal. Sadly, the San Joaquin Valley is behind the average at this time. However, a big fatty that’s heading into the north will dumps some in the mid-Sierra, so we’ll see how much that helps.
On operations, Buck-Macleod stated Shasta is ahead due to the above mentioned storm. Folsom is almost there with 90 percent of normal. There was a threat of a “first flush” event in the Delta that could be triggered by hydrologic conditions. The Bureau was poised to shut down a pump at the Delta Jones Plant in response. But the first flush wasn’t triggered so there was maintenance performed. San Luis Reservoir storage has passed the low point with, I believe 400,000 a/f of federal water. SLR is being drawn down by federal South of Delta Central Valley Project contractors who don’t want a repeat of last year’s stranding of hundreds of thousands of acres stored above ground instead of recharged.
Buck-Macleod said the Bureau has no plans to call on Friant supplies to supplement Delta export shortfalls. He said there should be more clarification at the Mid Pacific Conference early next year.
On the Friant system he expects low point to hit Millerton Lake in February. I believe he said something around 300,000 a/f. Millerton only holds about 500,000 a/f when full. Conditions indicate a possible 90 percent allocation. He said there isn’t much change on the SJR Restoration program and the returns expected through recapture of SJR water down stream of Los Banos. Under agreement Patterson Irrigation District and Banta Carbona ID pump water from the SJR and send it to San Luis. Both of those districts are currently shut down for maintenance.
The question was asked if Friant might get more than a 10 percent carryover this year. Buck-Macleod said you can always ask but if the allocation is big the Bureau won’t be as receptive to a higher carryover. There is a scenario where many of the contractors put in low amounts of supplies causing the lake to fill to flood capacity and therefore causing an early release of cheaper water as an uncontrolled season.
External
Mike Villines spoke about state matters. He said there was a slight increase in Republicans elected to the Assembly and State Senate, but not enough to stop the super majority. The legislature is skewing younger and unfortunately more leftist. However, the Valley has elected two younger conservatives.
Villines said it is time to be extremely engaged with the policy makers and administration appointees in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s plans. (Newsom is trying to taxpayer finance some political theater he’s calling Trump proofing California.) He said a significant immediate effort at the capital is to be sure Friant is in line for grant opportunities.
Johnny Amaral said one of the big efforts taking place in Washington DC is the legislature trying to wrap up quickly and go home. A week from today’s meeting the money runs out and therefore a Continuing Resolution will most likely be passed next Tuesday, even though they have until next Friday. The Farm Bill is supposed to be passed every five years but that didn’t happen so there will be a similar extension put forth.
Locally Congressman Jim Costa is trying to be the ranking Dem on the Ag Committee. One of Costa’s staffers said things look good. Congressman Doug LaMalfa is chairing the Western Caucus and that’s good news for the West. The transition is benefiting from Trump’s first term experiences. The candidates for the cabinet were announce very quickly. The second tier of appointments is ready to get involved immediately.
Amaral said this is a very different term without the usual lame duck session in a second term. This time Trump has two years to use the House and Senate majority to achieve the needed goals.
O&M
Chris Hickernell reported there are a few washouts that are being immediately address. He said the new laws in the state regarding homeless encampments have been helpful. Staff have been able to get the nomads seeking waterfront accommodations moved off the Friant Kern Canal and adjacent property before as much trash piles up. There are problems with people cutting fences so they can fish. Those security breaches are patched up ASAP.
Blueprint
Austin Ewell reported on Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley matters. There was a Blueprint meeting at last week’s ACWA convention. The Blueprint has sent out a warning about the through Delta flows being pushed by State Board staff as opposed to the Voluntary Agreements. The comment period will be extended until January 10th.
Ewell also said the Farmer to Farmer project is producing some good results. Directors Tom Barcellos and Loeffler have been participating in this gathering of Delta and San Joaquin
Valley growers and both said some great opportunities to find areas of agreement have come about. They both asked for financial contributions. Arvin Edison Water Storage District kicked down $10Gs. Phillips said this is a worthwhile effort and an impressive change. He said Bureau staff have been very engaged and Karl Stock needs to know this. Loeffler said the next hill to climb is the Army Corps of Engineers. What a culture to learn. The late, great engineer Richard Schafer once told me the average ACE project takes a minimum of 20-years to complete.
SLDMWA
Amaral reported the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority meeting was held yesterday and you can read about it in our report.
CEO Report
Phillips reported last month’s offsite meeting had more than 60 directors and managers attend. There were some meaningful updates in the strategic plan. He said last week’s ACWA followed close on the heels of Thanksgiving and the offsite. There was an all Central Valley CVP meeting. He said it was very good and he recommends continuing this. There were more than 100 folks from the contractors and it beat the Zoom calls. There was good one on one time and the exchange of information was encouraging. There will be another meeting with the Bureau next week but the details were not ready to disclose. It will include some volunteer agreements.
With that the meeting was adjourned at 11:34am for a taxpayer funded lunch of meat and potatoes.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2023 by Don A. Wright
FRIANT WATER AUTHORITY
854 N. Harvard Ave., Lindsay, CA 93247, Office 559/562-6305 Email:information@friantwater.org www.friantwater.org
The Friant Water Authority is a Joint Powers Agreement with 15 districts to operate and maintain the Friant Division of the Central Valley Water Project. Water from the San Joaquin River is diverted at Friant Dam at Millerton Lake to the Madera/Chowchilla Canal to the north and the Friant/Kern Canal to the south. More than one million acres of mostly family farms and numerous communities get their surface supplies from the Friant Division.
Board: Chair Jim Erickson, Vice Chair Rick Borges
Staff: CEO Jason Phillips, COO Johnny Amaral, CFO Wilson Orvis, Water Resources Manager Ian Buck-Macleod, Engineer Katie Duncan, Superintendent Chris Hickernell and Attorney Don Davis.
