The Tehama Colusa Canal Authority held its Wednesday, August 4, 2021, board meeting at its Willows headquarters. The meeting was scheduled to start at 9:00am and it was conducted by telephone on Global Meet. Global Meet has some problems. It continually hung up on everyone and getting a recording was difficult. I could feel for staff as they wrestled with it, but things were soon running smoothly. Chairman Ken LeGrande called the meeting to order about 9:05am and took role.
The Meeting
A quorum of at least nine district representatives were present. The agenda was approved and under public comment I mentioned the State Board’s mischief. General Manager Jeffery Sutton introduced a lady named Jenny Scheer working for Water & Land Solutions introduced herself and is working to help get the Sacramento Valley up to speed on SGMA issues if I understood correctly.
There was a discussion about the possibility of more recharge on the Colusa Drain if a modification to the conveyance is made. It was said this was not an agendized item but could be if the board is interested in pursuing it. There was interest and there is a chance the concept could be repeated along other parts of the Drain. Good for them. I believe it was Sutton who said there is also some opportunities to get 215 Water into the mix next time there’s a wet year. This talk turned to water banking. Someone said the Kern Water Bank is an amazing facility but there isn’t a similar ideal situation in their area, if I understood.
The minutes and financial reports were approved. Sutton said the audit revealed a 58 cent discrepancy that was quickly tracked down by staff and all the necessary changes made. He also said the legal costs haven’t been as high as expected and the battle against aquatic weeds is well under way. A director said the lights are on at the HQ so he moved to approve the paying of the bills and the financial reports. The board agreed.
The Bureau Report
Rich Robertson reported on water flows from Shasta and related sources. Lake Shasta is a big lake but it still has dead pools. We hear a lot about the temperature control but they have hydropower considerations as well. I’m not sure who Mr. Robertson is but it sounded like it was Sutton who praised him for the hard work that went into some water transfers and his work either with, for or at the US Bureau of Reclamation.
GM Report
Sutton reported the Tehama Colusa Canal diversions. He said Lake Folsom may well get so low a special barge and pump may be brought into play just to pump water to a nearby municipality. Lake Oroville will be so low that power production will stop this week. New Melones Reservoir has never been a source for the Delta flows now being required and
releases there are made to offset storage elsewhere like the above mentioned temperature control. He said the San Luis Reservoir is down to 24,000 a/f on the federal side. The Sac Valley CVP folks think the Cooperative Operating Agreement needs to credit part of the state’s 400,000 a/f in SLR to the fed side.
There are questions about what will happen after September. There are still inflows at Shasta that could be utilized. I believe it was only 7,000 cfs but it’s something.
Sutton reported there has been spraying along the canal and while that’s not an ideal way to make things happen someone spoke up and said it’s an effective and well managed task. Sutton reminded folks to please call in if they see a problem. He said staff doesn’t take it as complaining but rather communicating. He also said the water quality in the canal has been pretty good in general. For some reason they have been testing for aluminum and that’s not even registering. Like most places the more surface water added to the mix the better the quality.
Sutton reported the dredging is finished. He said there have been some challenges but staff has been overcoming obstacles. One problem is the dredge owned by Glenn Colusa ID is just about wore out. GCID would like to work with TCCA and have them do some dredge work. It sounded like the two entities have a solid working relationship and this was well received. It sounded like convict crews used to do some work in the past but they are all off fighting fires.
Under meetings and presentations Sutton reported Congressman Doug LaMalfa brought his DC staff out and they toured the canal and Sites Reservoir. He said LaMalfa asked a lot of questions and interrupted him when he used initials and acronyms. I like this guy.
General Business
The 2021 water year operations was next. Sutton said much of the transfer water is tied up this year. The State Board is issuing curtailments on diversions. He said the Sac Valley is concerned about stored water being illegally diverted in the Delta. I’ve heard the same thing from the San Joaquin Valley. Attorney Andrea Clark said she agrees with Sutton’s assessment of the State Board actions.
It was said it looks like the transfer numbers will be made this year. Delivery amounts are declining as the crops mature. Sutton spoke with hope about this allowing some transfers to get to the San Luis Delta Mendota folks. He also mentioned USBR’s Ernest Conant moved heaven and earth to bring the needed manpower to bear on this situation. Each well needs a corresponding monitor and the state is looking for a laboratory condition out in the
field. So, Conant’s willingness to help was much appreciated. Sutton also said the TCCA-USBR OM&R agreement should be out for public comment soon if I understood correctly. Clark said the negotiations went very well and she is preparing a resolution for the board to consider at next month’s meeting.
Bill Vanderwall reported the Water Management Plan is moving forward. I’m not sure who Mr. Vanderwall is or if I spelled his name correctly. The Bureau requires, as does DWR, water management plans. Sutton mentioned working together on this plan, “. . . takes some of the bricks out of the briefcase for the smaller districts.” Dang, I might just borrow that without giving him credit.
Clark said there isn’t much to talk about when it comes to the WIIN Act contract conversions. Most of the contract negotiations are finished. She said there are some lawsuits related to the WIIN Act but they don’t directly involve TCCA.
Sites Reservoir
Alternate Director Jamie Trayham spoke about the Sites Reservoir Project saying there was a good workshop on the cost/benefit for subscribers. She said there were some very good discussions taking place. She said some of the smaller workgroups dealing with
Colusa County want total inclusion. So, that spurred the idea of contracting with the county rather than trying to contract with different districts when a landowner may have more than one location. It would also allow folks in White Areas to purchase water since the place of use is county wide. Glenn County could do the same. The idea of expanding this to other counties was well received. Also, California-America Water is looking for a wet year water supply from Sites for groundwater recharge. I think this is the same outfit as Cal Water. There are two other entities interested in participating in Sites. I expect this will increase as it looks like Sites is one of the few viable projects under California’s onerous regulatory climate. It sounds like those coming to the Sites table late will have to pay a premium. The original players took the risk and need to be rewarded for that action. There is a chance the Bureau could buy-in and that will help the project. There
is a goal to get the EIS/EIR finished this month. Could be a frenzied work effort to make that happen, but it could happen. Sutton added no matter what happens TCCA is dedicated to delivering water to its core constituency.
Sutton said the future for in person meetings is still up in the air. He also said Mr. Bill Van was lost in a helicopter accident. The board took a moment of silence.
Attorney’s Report
Clark said her report would be in closed session. Closed session included four lawsuits and four real property negotiations in the form of water transfers. There is also a case of potential litigation. The open portion of the meeting ended at 10:30am and that was that.
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TEHAMA COLUSA CANAL AUTHORITY: 5513 Highway 162, Willows, CA 95988 Telephone: 530/934-2125 www.tccanal.com
STAFF: General Manager – Jeffrey Sutton, O&M Chief – Jeff Yancy, Administration – Lisa Dicharry
DIRECTORS: Chair – Kenneth LaGrande-LaGrande WD, Vice-Chair – Halbert Charter-Colusa CWD, Linda Hayes-Corning WD Glenn Kelley-Cortina WD, Tom Charter-Davis WD, Jonnalee Henderson-Dunnigan WD, Wade Mathis-4M WD, Sandy Denn-Glenn Colusa ID, Joel Mann-Glide WD, Ron Lee-Holthouse WD, Wade Danley-Kanawha WD, Larry Brockman-Kirkwood WD, Jim Jones-Orland Artois WD, Dan Jones-Proberta WD, Bart Fleharty-Thomas Creek WD & Blake Vann-Westside WD.
