Madera County GSA May 13, 2023

By Joel Hastings

The Madera County board of supervisors convened as the board of the Madera GSA at 1:39  p.m. on May 13^th in the county office building on 4^th Street in Madera with Chair Leticia Gonzalez wielding the gavel. The agenda was concise and treated with dispatch in no small measure because the items had been considered and refined at the previous two GSA Committee meetings held May 6th and April 1st.

Eye In The Sky

The first item was informational as Stephanie Anagnoson, county director of water and natural resources, explained that an RFP or request for proposal was being put out to solicit bids for satellite services for ETW measurement on farms beginning in 2026. She said the contract with Irriwatch, now called Hydrosat, has been used for comparisons with groundwater allocations in 2021 and 2022 at a cost of $150,000 per year. In 2023, the county contracted with Land IQ for similar measurements of evapotranspiration and precipitation at a cost of $160,000 per year, both requiring a contract with Davids Engineering to generate reports and analysis.

With both contracts expiring and new products and services out there, Anagnoson explained an RFP would potentially attract new and improved services. It is proposed that this be an open process with the GSA Committee and members of the public hearing from all potential bidders.

Supervisor Jordan Wamhoff who had attended the May 6^th committee meeting emphasized that those attending that session, including the MAWA (Madera Ag Water Association) representative Noah Lopez, were in full support. Additionally, growers attending that meeting urged that the bid proposal require firms to include an accounting package which would help users to more readily calculate and track water use on an on-going seasonal basis. Wamhoff said he’s sure there will be much more public “buy in” by following this open process.

Supervisor David Rogers added that he believes there will be lots of good input from the farming community, especially regarding new technologies that become available.

With Chair Gonzalez inviting public comment, MAWA’s Lopez said his group was very appreciative that the accounting package component had been included and called it a “perfect example” of the GSA Committee process working well.

Anagnoson concluded the discussion saying the RFP would be issued on May 15^th, with public comment invited by May 30^th  and response from vendors due June 16^th. After staff review, public presentations and interviews with bidders will begin July 1^st.

Next was consideration for approval of the rules for the GSA Committee. Most are straightforward public meeting regulations, with the simpler Rosenberg’s rule of order in place. The committee will include two members of the board of supervisors who, after discussions are charged with taking action… currently Supervisors Gonzalez and Robert Macaulay. Supervisor Wamhoff is the alternate. The public forum is to include the opportunity for speakers to take up to five minutes, as opposed to the standard three. Also, the public may make suggestions or requests for items to appear on the next meeting’s agenda. The flag salute was added as well to open the meetings which are to being held the first Tuesday of each month. Video and audio are available online in real time and the recordings may be viewed afterwards. No supervisors commented and Lopez once again expressed appreciation for this process. The adoption of the rules passed on a unanimous roll call vote, 5-0.

Flow Meter Regulations

The final agenda item was consideration of refinements to the rules when growers use flow meters as their preferred method to measure groundwater use. Anagnoson said that again, these issues had been discussed at two committee meetings with resulting adjustments. The rule will now be that when a meter is broken there will be 10 business days for it to be replaced. Also, a grace period has been added for growers to report water usage. The rules require reporting in the first ten days of the month for totals from the previous month but a grace period from the 11^th to the 20^th is available if necessary due to circumstances.Anagnoson went on to reaffirm that separate meters are required for groundwater and surface water applications. Meters must be calibrated every two years, but that process can be completed at the end of a water season, not during active use. In the case of a new meter not immediately put into service, the purchase invoice itself can be used to document the meter is satisfactory.

Anagnoson explained that if an unusually low level of water use is submitted from a grower’s meters, the GSA can investigate to obtain more information from the landowner. If data from any meter in a farm unit is unreported or unusable for two months in a calendar year, consecutive or non-consecutive, the landowner can be moved to Irriwatch  or whatever satellite service might in use in the future.

Supervisor Rob Poythress, with his tongue firmly implanted in his cheek, thanked the committee for giving him until the 20^th of the following month to submit his data, because he  often feels ill on the tenth. Wamhoff replied in a similar light vein saying, “You’re anti-farmer so what do you care?” Supervisor Rogers added more seriously that he is glad these adjustments to the rules can be helpful to the farmers, rather than more onerous regulation.

With no public comment, the resolution adopting the revised rules was passed unanimously. And the meeting was adjourned at 1:56 p.m.

Pilot Project

Regarding the committee meetings, it is interesting that at the May 6^th meeting a significant item involving a proposed contract for services from Davids Engineering was considered but did not make it to this supervisors meeting. The committee discussed a proposal that would have invited the firm to develop a flowmeter telemetry pilot project to support the groundwater allocation program. While meeting participants agreed that digital access to flowmeter data would be at least theoretically desirable, at the proposed contract cost of $250,000 it would be preferred to let some other district underwrite that development cost. The notion was that such technology could be brought into the district when it was more commercially available. Supervisors Macaulay and Wamhoff took those suggestions to heart and did not approve the proposed contract… and therefore, a proposal was not on this May 13^th board agenda.

The May 6^th committee meeting also discussed the budget for the GSA. Director Anagnoson had explained that committee income and expenses are part of the county budget process developed annually. She agreed, though, that information could be provided to the committee on a quarterly basis.

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Madera County is comprised of three subbasins, designated by the CA Department of Water Resources as critically overdrafted, and “high priority”: (1) the Chowchilla Subbasin; (2) the Madera Subbasin; and (3) a portion of the Delta-Mendota Subbasin. Each of these subbasins  submitted a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) by January 31, 2020. These subbasins are required to achieve “sustainability” by the year 2040. The method by which sustainability will be achieved will be illustrated in the GSP, which was be drafted in partnership by the irrigation district, water districts, cities and Madera County. The Madera County Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) is administered by the Madera County Department of Water and Natural Resources: Stephanie Anagnoson, Director, 200 W. Fourth Street, Madera, CA 93637, (559) 675-7703 x. 2265 or (559) 675-6573. The County of Madera Board of Supervisors is the Board of Directors of the GSA for the three subbasins. The current board is composed of five members: Letitia Gonzalez, Robert Macaulay, Robert Poythress, David Rogers and Jordon Wamhoff..

The Madera Subbasin’s DWR # is 5-022.06