The North Kings GSA board met on Thursday, September 27, 2018 at Fresno Irrigation District’s headquarters in Fresno. Chairman Jerry Prieto called the meeting at 6:00 pm and we joined together to salute the greatest flag in the history of mankind. There were no public comments and the minutes were approved. FID engineer Adam Claes gave the water conditions update. He said last year was the third wettest in history. That allowed enough carryover to this year for a FID run from April until the end of this month. Pine Flat Reservoir is about half full but FID still has 30,000 a/f in storage to draw from.
Next Claes talked about the GSP timeline for NKGSA. Things are on schedule. Consulting engineer from Provost & Pritchard Ron Samuelian gave an update on the coordinating efforts between the seven GSAs in the Kings Sub Basin. The coordination agreement framework has started. The water budget for each GSA has started and those figures are being shared in preparation for a sub basin GSP. Setting the sustainable management criteria is under discussion as is the data sharing agreement. DWR has grants and NKGSA is a sub grantee.
FID GM to be, Bill Stretch gave the Advisory Committee meeting report. He reported Clovis City Manager Luke Serpa will be stepping down as the Advisory Committee chair. Current FID GM Gary Serrato will be stepping down and as Stretch takes over the district he’s handing off his advisory duties to Scott Redelf, City of Clovis’ Assistant City Manager and his chair of the technical committee to Samuelian.
Samuelian gave a GSP development update. Most of the easy GSP tasks have been completed in most of the GSAs in the Valley. The budget development is underway with data collecting by entities that pump groundwater. He said these entities are willing to step up and participate by being responsible for their own impact to SGMA by pumping. There are white areas to the east of FID that are being looked at for evaluation. There could be a basin boundary adjustment on the eastern side of the GSA along the line where the aquifers change from rock fissure to alluvial. Serrato said he’s been going around talking with the disadvantaged communities.
As part of the sustainable management criteria a monitoring network has to be established. Some of this 
network has been in use since the 1920s. There are about two dozen wells throughout the GSA in critical locations that have ample history. More wells are needed but these wells are helpful for setting initial criteria to determine undesirable results as defined by SGMA. He showed the board the graph showing the measurable objective, the minimum threshold and the ramp down to arrive at these water levels. The measurable objective is the desired average water level. The minimum threshold is the drop dead bottom the water table can drop. Getting all this together requires a multitude of actions. It has to start now but it won’t be solved overnight. There’s 40-years to accomplish the desired goals. The MO, measurable object won’t be the same for every part of the sub basin or even the GSA. Same for the minimum threshold. Director Rudy Hernandez, Biola Community Service District asked about how his community may differ since it is near the San Joaquin River and gets a portion of its recharge from the river. Samuelian said the hydrographs for the Biola area – and it won’t be just one well – will determine the MO and the MT for that area. Serrato said projects to help recharge and reuse will depend on boundary flows to the west and the south of the NKGSA. If a community is involved the size of the community is an important consideration.
Brandy Swisher, chair of the outreach committee said the committee met by phone recently. Swisher said the League of Women Who Vote and the Asian Business Institute and Resource Center have joined the outreach efforts. They were able to include some information about SGMA and the NKGSA in the form of inserts sent out by Fresno County. There is a partnership going on with Fresno State to involve students in a public relations and outreach program. As a part of the effort Serrato has spoken to several groups including Rotary and the Asian Business Institute & Resource Center. There are thousands of immigrants from Southeast Asia who farm in Fresno County. Serrato said this went very well.
Serrato said NKGSA now has ACWA JPIA insurance. ACWA requires a director to participate as a representative. Prieto said he’d taken prerogative as chair and approached Director Karl Kienow, Garfield Water District to serve as the main man. Prieto will serve as the alternate.
The legal report was next and the board was asked to take action to adopt a conflict of interest code as well as approving it again as a resolution which gets the information in the works through the county. The board adopted and approved.
Treasurer Deann Hailey introduced Eric Gonzalez, CPA who gave the board an audit report. He said everything was clean, bright and up right. I highly recommend Gonzalez – his entire report took less than five minutes. Hailey gave the rest of the report and the board approved the financial report. The expense report covered July through September and there was nothing out of the ordinary so the board OK’d them as well.
Serrato gave the Ex O report and said at the next board meeting the NKGSA has to obey the bylaws and reorganize the board each July. The chair and vice chair will be appointed or reappointed as the case may be. There is a chance Hernandez’s seat representing small cities might be changed. Hernandez said he was asked by the City of Kerman to meet this Wednesday and talk about continuing to represent the small cities. So that’s the two things that need to happen next month.
Under directors reports Prieto said the time has flown in the past two years.
The last item was in closed session to discuss the NKGSA’s potential new Executive Officer. I was looking around the room, but I didn’t see any likely candidate unless someone is quitting their job. I don’t know, I’m flummoxed.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 by Don A. Wright
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.
MEMBERS: Bakman Water Company, Cities of Kerman, Fresno and Clovis, Fresno County, Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, Garfield Water District and Fresno ID
