The Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency Advisory Committee met at the Alta Irrigation District headquarters in City of Dinuba on Wednesday, December 20, 2017. The meeting began at 3:30 pm. This was a good day to attend because the committee is looking at one of the big questions of SGMA – how do you pay for this? As AID General Manager Chad Wegley pointed out if the GSA isn’t set up correctly the state can come in and cause all hell to break lose. So today was a look at he KREGSA Groundwater Fee Study prepared by the Oakland, California consulting firm of Lechowicz + Tseng.
The 17-page study included many of the variables by unique areas. For instance AID’s crop type and acreage is figures separately from the white areas or the Orange Cove ID that were listed separately. Wegley said the same approach used in the Friant system to manage supplies are close to how the proposed system can work here. Knowing the crop usage is one of the keys. Tim Gobler, a grower in the area say he’s been using satellite data on his ranches and has found it to eliminate much of the questions concerning which parts of the field are getting not enough, too much or just right water.
Kings River East will be billing landowners sperate from AID. But that will require a good deal of outreach to educate folks on how this will work. Wegley said he doesn’t expect trouble from the big growers, but the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs will be of great benefit. The coffee shop/barber shop approach. The fee to be charged in 2018 will be based on pumping usage from 2014-2016 based on the crop use available at that time.
DISCLAIMER OF RESPONSIBILITY; Waterrwights.net strives to provide his clients with the most complete, up-to-date, and accurate information available. Nevertheless, DAW 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. Waterrwights.net’s clients therefore rely on the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of information from Waterrwights.net 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 2017 by Don A. Wright No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of DAW.
SGMA The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 calls for the formation of Groundwater Sustainability Areas within Basins and Sub-basins to develop Groundwater Sustainability Plans.
Kings River East GSA Board – Chair Steven Worthley Tulare County, Vice Chair Mary Fast, Buddy Mendes Fresno County, Fernando Rubalcaba Special Districts Drinking Water, Loren Booth Special Districts Irrigation Water, Jack Brandt Alta Irrigation District and Steve Boos Ag Production. General Manager Chad Wegley, Attorney Lauren Layne
