The Kings River Water District held its board of directors meeting in Centerville on Thursday, September 19, 2019. The talk before the meeting was entertaining but the business discussion was the about the hemp market. The crop is labor intense and just how big the market is to supply ratio is uncertain, at least in this room. Director Mike Hacker wasn’t able to attend. Chairman Jack Paxton called the meeting about 8:00am and the minutes were approved, there were no additions to the agenda and there were no potential conflicts of interest to be found.
KRWD General Manager/Engineer Nick Keller gave the treasurer’s report, so I guess he’s really the GM/Engineer/Treasurer. The bills were paid and the report approved. Under administrative matters all of the directors up for reelection are running unopposed. Keller submitted a request to Fresno County to appoint the seats – in compliance with the law – save a needless ballot spot. A law known as SB 929 requires public agencies to have a website. Keller’s firm manages other districts and can give KRWD a website by the end of the year – again, compliant with the law – and he’s able to do so for what seems to me a very reasonable cost. Good for him.
A report on the Kings River Water Association raised some of the very pertinent issues for KRWD. I think this district is the first on the river distribution. If the correct times and amounts are not observed the district can actually loose water diversions. One of the more complicated arrangements in California’s water world is how the Kings River water supply is allocated. The KRWA has something called the Big Blue Book* that lays out who gets what and when. There are public entities with private ditch companies within the service areas and the myriad of laws and regulations covering the way things are run would take an ancient Chinese astrologer to keep track of.
Paxton said Pine Flat Reservoir is about half full and demand is dropping off. If there is any storm event by December there will be a flood release and that could mess with the plumbing. There are weirs and other structures that need to be prepared. He said the community drinking water folks are starting to turn from cooperation to an adversarial pro-enviro position and the State Board is looking at the CV Salts program in a new light. There was talk the state may also be looking into moving the groundwater quality on to SGMA. He also said he’s heard one of the reasons SB 1 will be vetoed isn’t because of what you think. It could potentially derail the old handshake agreements that allow Hetch Hetchy water to go to San Francisco. Interesting, yes? The meeting then went into closed session.
DISCLAIMER OF RESPONSIBILITY; Don A. Wright 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. DAW’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. *A cross between Alcoholics Anonymous and Used Car prices.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 by Don A. Wright
Kings River Water District
The Kings River Water District meets at 8:00am on the third Thursday of the month at the Gerawan Farms Offices on Smith 
Avenue in Centerville California. KRWD is a member of the East Kings GSA and receives supplies from the Kings River. President Jack Paxton, Curtis Taylor, Danny Van Ruiten, Steve Boos & Mike Hacker.
General Manager/Engineer Nick Keller, Attorney Loraine Layne, Superintendent Mike Sullivan, Ditch Tender Ken Domoto. KRWD has about 19,000 acres of tree fruit, grapes and nuts along the Kings River bottom land on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley.
