By Don A. Wright
The San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority held its board of directors meeting on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at its Los Banos headquarters and on Zoom, the preferred online meeting platform for those of us continuously challenged by Microsnot Teams non-user friendly operations.*
The Meeting
Vice Chair William Bourdeau started the meeting with the flag salute to the greatest piece of cloth ever at 9:30am on the dot. This was followed by self-introductions and there were no changes to the agenda nor was there any public comment. The consent calendar was also passed without comment.
Action Items
J. Scott Petersen gave the good folks in the room the skinny on proposed legislation. Congressman Jim Costa has a bill to restore the Water Investment Funding Improvement Act, I think it’s called. WIFIA helps to score federally owned assets for projects which could help the Delta Mendota Canal and the Sisk Dam raise funding. HR 2316 is favored by SLDM and it deals with wetlands conservation and access improvements. S 1413 by Senator Alex Padilla would authorize more funding for the San Joaquin River Restoration.
On the state side SB 466 by State Senator Anna Caballero would exempt civil liability for legacy hexavalent chromium in drinking water. OK, I didn’t really understand what Petersen said, so don’t ask me how a chemical can be exempt from civil liability when it’s in drinking water.
SB 496 by State Senator Melissa Hurtado is shining a bright light on the government’s insane wish to electrify everything by actually allowing appeals to the clean fleets advisory committee. Good for her.
The commonsense SB 598, by State Senator Elena Durazo allows all water districts to build under the Construction Manager/General Contractor project delivery method.
Director John Varela asked Petersen about the political situation in Washington DC blocking the disbursement of funds. Petersen said Congress might try to block efforts by President Donald Trump to spend the money it appropriates. Should this happen there will no doubt be a court room drama.
Finance & Administration
Ms. Stiles [sorry, I don’t know this young lady’s first name] gave the board an update on the employee handbook. She said they are seeking approval of the updates. Bourdeau said it’s an important task and the board approved.
Next CEO Federico Barajas and engineer Richard Welch gave the board an update on the Delta Mendota Canal subsidence correction project. The F&A committee recommended Phase I, the stretch of the canal from the Delta pumps to mile post 7.2.
The liner needs to be raised four feet and will cost an estimated $30 million. Future work would first address the upper portion of the DMC before heading south. Welch said both CEQA and NEPA should not be a major hurdle and should be satisfied by September of this year. He showed a graph that looked to me like the money is there in the form of government grants. Next, he showed the timeline and there are some challenging milestones to complete this project by first quarter 2027.
In two years this project will take a bit more than $4.16 million per mile to fix the canal. It sounds like a lot of money and a long time to fix less than 10-miles of a canal. But in this day and age; it’s a dime on the dollar lightening bolt.
A director asked if this is the best and highest priority to fixing the canal. Barajas said this section has to be fixed first before any other repairs could be implemented if you want to send more water downstream. Attorney Becca Ackroyd said the permitting taking place for this will extend to the entire length of the canal. So, there’s more bang to the buck than the project first appeared to have.
Barajas asked Ackroyd to comment on the Planning Committee’s recommendation on cost allocation methodology for this phase. Ackroyd explained the home board’s input is requested. Barajas said the discussion has been healthy and productive.
Committee Chair Justin Diener said to get Phase I fully funded will be contingent on committing to more investment in subsidence correction. That’s why the allocation methodology is so important. Someone spoke up about the costs to member agencies who haven’t contributed to the subsidence. This could set up some friction on how a “one for all and all for one” could be questions by some when it comes to getting everyone to pay a fair share.
Barajas said Friant went through a very similar situation on the Friant Kern Canal cost share. He asked Friant’s Johnny Amaral to share some of their experiences. Amaral said it was a challenge and it is good to get this worked out as fast as possible. In both this and the FKC situation, districts upstream of the problem area are not as willing to share in the cost. Thus, Barajas’ request to get all the comments in asap.
The last action item was given by staff who were asking the board to adopt a resolution to authorize the execution of the Yuba Accord Transfer Program. This is an activity agreement – which means only the members participating will be charged. Any members not yet participating are welcomed to join in. Director Alison Febbo asked if the negotiations are still ongoing and they are.
Pablo Arroyave said since this also includes the state’s Department of Water Resources as well as the US Bureau of Reclamation and this agreement goes from 2026-2050, there are different considerations due to state and federal interest. There is also the State Water Resources Control Board’s hearing that could inject further nose and nuggets into this process. However, if I understood correctly, Barajas said the State Board isn’t expected to cause much trouble.
Reports
Lobbyist Kristin Olsen-Cate reported Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to get the revised May budget out next week. There have been rumors Newsom will reduce the budget from $10-40 billion from the January announcement of $300 billion. She said AB 269, by Assemblyman Steve Bennett isn’t moving forward. No tears and no gloating. SB 601 by Ben Allen is in the suspense file. Petersen said amendments are helping calm it down. SB 695 Caballero will have Cal Trans prioritize projects with additional benefits besides just transportation. AB 1319 Nick Shultz, (same guy who Chairs the Public Safety Committee that had to back pedal after it cut out felony penalties for those convicted of sex trafficking 16 and 17 year olds) is facing growing opposition, and Petersen said this one looks to be a major fight to get shed of.
The Prop 4 funding is still the major source of water project money. However, Olsen-Cate said there are ongoing efforts to get the Sisk Dam and other projects to get more money. This includes carbon cap and trade and the legislature is being pushed to get more involved in how this money is spent. As opposed to just letting CARB dole out everything carbon related. There is a June 6th deadline to move bills from one house to another.
There was a bit of glitch to my beloved Zoom but the meeting returned with Petersen saying something about allocations based on hydrological methods. On the federal side he said the budget reconciliation in the House is moving along. The bill by Congressman Doug LaMalfa to delist the long fin smelt from endangered has passed out of the House with San Joaquin Valley Democrats Adam Gray and Jim Costa supporting. But it has to get out of the Senate by the end of May to have much of a chance of success.
Petersen said President Trump has sent his “skinny” budget to congress. What congress does with these helpful suggestions isn’t nailed down yet. The members of the federal Central Valley Project met last week and discussed the Trump executive orders impacts.
Lobbyist Dennis Cardoza said most likely the only way to get the long fin smelt through is to package it with other matters because Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla aren’t expect to be much help. Cardoza said Gray has some good words about water in California you should look at.
CEO Report
Barajas said the Bureau will have another round of federal funding for aging infrastructure that will roll out next month. Keep your eyes peeled for that one. That was a short report.
COO Report
Arroyave said the Regional Bureau management are asking for 100,000 a/f Warran Act contracts. However, there are some concerns about template. The Bureau has said this is the base for further negotiations. Sometimes that happens sometimes that don’t. But this contract is needed for the Yuba contracts. He said the Bureau’s Kristen White is looking for O&M committee members to participate. Good for her.
Arroyave said the state is still going after hyacinth and he asked all the districts suffering to get in touch with him so they can get the prioritized response to include areas upstream from the Delta. It is very difficult to control let alone eradicate.
Water Ops
Arroyave said the Bureau’s efforts are focused on increasing allocations. He said Trinity, Shasta and Folsom are all full and above normal. San Luis Reservoir is below 800,000 a/f on the federal side but with warmer weather it will draw down. Jones has been pumping very low. It’s still pumping at one unit until next week. After May 19th the infamous D-1641 will be controlling the pumps. Arroyave said the COA (Cooperative Operating Agreement) is on a knife’s edge to being balanced.
Committee Reports
Next Boudreau reported the Water Resources Committee discussed legislation. The Finance & Admin had all their biz aired earlier in the meeting. The O&M and Planning Committee had no reports.
Outside Agency Reports
The Family Farm Alliance has hired Samantha Barnwell as its new CEO. Mike Wade reported the California Farm Water Coalition has released a 12-page report on what it’s up to. I believe this is on its website and members will receive a copy in the mail soon. Wade also said the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley has released a letter of support for LaMalfa’s bill that was prepared by CFWC. Wade talked about a movie focused on the lower Colorado River Basin called the Green Desert, where 90 percent of the nation’s winter vegetables come from. Wade said the Natural Resources Defense Council is weighing in on growing alfalfa again. The NRDC is dependable, unfortunately, to get its nose and nuggets into the mix without really understanding where food comes from.
ACWA (Association of California Water Agencies) will be holding its spring conference in Monterey from May 13-15th. Bourdeau said Wade will be moderating a panel next week. Varela said the ACWA Foundation will be hosting a reception to feature its scholarship program. He said there is a silver tsunami getting ready to hit if young people aren’t trained and motivated to pursue a career in water. Also, Ackroyd will be speaking on JPAs at the conference.
Petersen said the Blueprint has adopted a number of positions on legislation that mirrors the SLDM’s positions. The Blueprint is developing a prioritized list of water projects and he urged westside interests to get more involved as it is underrepresented.
The SJV Collaborative Action Program sent a letter to Newsom regarding including stakeholders in how to word an executive order dealing with recharge. Then there is the SAFER program administrated by the State Board that doesn’t match up with revenue sources and spending caps. That was also called to the Governor’s attention.
The Central Valley Project Water Association report was given by Arroyave who said that organization is trying to help the Bureau spend wisely.
There were more questions about the Warren Act deadlines. Barajas said the deadlines are tight and the costs are going up if there isn’t more input from the members. Director Bill Diedrich suggested this be a topic for discussion with the Bureau at ACWA. It’s a bit of a puzzle since the Warran Act contracts last for five years and the Yuba contract is 25-years.
Member Reports & Closed Session
Winding down Someone said he was in the high country last week and said there is still a lot of snow up there. The meeting then went into closed session at 11:15am for a trashcan full of legal matters. Well, that was that. Go be good to yourselves and others.
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*I keep waiting for Zoom to buy an advertisement from us.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2025 by Don A. Wright
SAN LUIS & DELTA-MENDOTA WATER AUTHORITY was established in January of 1992 and consists of approximately 2,100,000 acres of 29 federal and exchange water service contractors within the western San Joaquin Valley, San Benito and Santa Clara counties. The governing body of the Authority consists of a 19-member Board of Directors classified into five divisions with directors selected from within each division. The main conveyance is the Delta-Mendota Canal that delivers approximately 3,000,000-acre feet of water within the Authority service area. Of this amount, 2,500,000-acre feet are delivered to highly productive agricultural lands, 150,000 to 200,000-acre feet for municipal and industrial uses, and between 250,000 to 300,000 acre-feet are delivered to wildlife refuges for habitat enhancement and restoration.
Board – Chairman: Cannon Michael,
Staff – Executive Director: Federico Barajas, COO: Pablo Arroyave, Attorney: Becca Akroyd, Director Finance: Ray Tarka, Director Water Policy: J. Scott Petersen, Director O&M/Facilities: Bob Martin
Email: youtellus@sldmwa.org 209/826-9696
P.O. Box 2157 Los Banos, CA. 93635
DWR SGMA #5-022.07
