By Don A. Wright
The Westlands Water District held its board of directors meeting on Tuesday, July 21, 2026 at its Fresno headquarters. It was hot and cloudy and there were even some reports of faint rain sprinkles. I know I’ve written many times how farmers get happy when it rains. They’re ducks and frogs, all in a good mood. But rain at the wrong time of year gets them a little emotional. You don’t want mold and a bunch of other nasty things happening to your crop before it gets ripe. I imagine not after either.
The Meeting
Chairman Jeff Fortune called the meeting to order at 9:06am with a flourish. He seemed ready to have a fast-moving meeting. We all saluted the greatest flag to ever fly and off we went. The consent calendar was passed without comment and Fortune asked the General Manager to give her report.
GM Report
Allison Febbo said there is new litigation filed by Bay Keeper and a whole clown car full of NGOs* over Shasta Reservoir operations. The State Water Resources Control Board is coming out with the Voluntary Agreements, also known as HRL, Healthy Rivers and Landscapes. COA, the Cooperative Operating Agreement is moving goal posts. This is the agreement between the federal and state agencies on how much water can be pumped from the Delta. The US Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Water Resources are on it.
Shasta supplies are tracking larger than predicted and that means there is room for a larger allocation. It was pointed out there’s a common misconception that if Westlands growers don’t get water by June they won’t need it. That’s a myth. The improvements in forecasting and its impact on long-term forecasting such as Weather Tools can now be used to reckon improved reservoir operations and free up more water sooner in the year.
Water Supply
Engineer Kitty Campbell reported a total Westlands supply of 511,659 a/f with 266,342 a/f remaining. There have been 70,000 a/f of supplemental supplies, but its cost is running at more than $700 per a/f. There is some participation expected to bring some rain, not a lot, to the mid-Sierra Nevada range as the summer monsoons send atmospheric moisture north. Almost all of the state’s reservoirs are at or above historic storage averages.
Campbell reported storage at San Luis Reservoir is looking pretty good for the both the federal and state sides. Delta water exports and outflow were presented on a graph. The benefits of Action Five on losing water supplies from the Delta are evident. But, Febbo when asked why the state is pumping so much more than the feds, said that was part of the COA equation.
Science, Blinded By
Brad Cavello reported the USBR Shasta operations was backed by a proclamation showing how there are improved ways to manage water supplies to mutual benefit of mankind and salmon. He said the winter run salmon spawn is going on right now and the carcass count is looking very good. Green Sturgeon populations are also improving. He said he doesn’t have an update on predation ready for today but is preparing one. Non-native species such as striped bass have begun to – I was going to write “decimate” the out-migrating salmon, but instead of one out of 10, it’s more like nine out of 10 juveniles are being eaten before they ever get to the ocean.
Gov’t Mischief
Kole Rojewski gave an update on federal matters saying, Republicans how a slim majority in both the House and Senate that is allowing a small faction to hold up things. Farm aid and defense are the topics under discussion but there is little motivation in the Senate to move on this before the elections. The war with Iran is also sucking up all the oxygen. Rojewski said Audry Bettencourt’s nomination for USBR Commissioner is good news and they are looking forward to her confirmation. In summation he said look forward to a rocky fall in Washington.
Kirk Kimmelshue, of Fernandez-Jensen-Kimmelshue Public Affairs reported the state legislators are on recess** and will reconvene on August 3rd. This is when the bills move from policy and fiscal committees to floor votes. There is a good deal of room for revision to take place when they start up again. There is an opportunity for directing Proposition Four spending towards recharge and preventing subsidence without having to view it through the lens of habitat or municipal concerns. He reported Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria did a good job of stopping some bad legislation in her role as a Chair of the Assembly Ag Committee. Kimmelshue said with elections coming up it is important to continue education staff and others on the need to support agriculture and Westlands.
Febbo said she met with gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra and relayed to him Westlands’ hopes for sound state water policy. She hopes to meet with candidate Steve Hilton soon as well. One of these guys supports change and the other one supports high speed rail. I won’t tell you which is which.
O&M
Kelly Vandergon gave his report saying one of the district’s loaders is being overhauled and will be ready this week to return to service. Westlands has really beefed up its metering system which is important since the vast majority of the system is piped.
There has been some theft but the big deal is the golden mussel. The district has been working with a chemical treatment approach using adjusted flows in real time. There will be a wide range of parameters measured include copper residuals and the impact on the mussel, of course. The treatment cycle will follow Department of Water Resources guidelines on the mussel life cycle. Vandergon said Westlands is participating with the WET Center at Fresno State University to do DNA testing of mussels. Clear Channel chemical company is supplying the juice.
Director Frank Coelho asked how long it takes to get the mussel population down. That’s not clear yet. But what do you do with the shells and such? Vandergon said districts in the South Valley have found some treatments partially dissolve the shells.
Outside Meetings
Russ Freeman reported on what’s happening at ACWA saying staff is participating in the preparation of water vision workshops to educate the incoming elected officials. Westlands is involved in the ACWA Region Six & Seven tours coming up.
The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley has released a draft of the Unified Water Plan and is taking comments until the end of the month. Freeman said the UWP is working on regional needs to prevent permanent fallowing of one million acres between Stanislaus and Kern Counties surface supply cutbacks and the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act create the possible havoc. The goal is in part to get as much of Westlands’ allocations delivered to prevent fallowing. The way the water supply infrastructure is built the westside of the San Joaquin Valley depends the most on imported water. However, in times past, water has been taken from the east side of the Valley and moved west during drought conditions. No one is safe.
Solar Power
Jose Gutierrez reported studies and scoping meetings are ongoing with the Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan. Febbo said Westlands is looking at contracting with consultants for a needs assessment.
Finance & Admin
Director William Bourdeau had Sherman Dix give a report and Dix said they are about ready to give the board an update on an hiring an investment advisor and in the meantime the current investment report was approved.
Dix continued saying Delia Lopez would report on refunds. She said there was a shortfall of more than $30,000 if I understood correctly. A timeline of how property assessments are conducted by Westlands was next. Dix said four categories were established in 1996 and in 2017 this was updated. He said there doesn’t appear to be a need for another major update yet. He also gave an update on the district’s pension program. There has been an increase in liability but also some investments to offset this. The board thought the strategy should be basically maintained but with a few tinkered improvements if I understood correctly.
SGMA
Next the board waded into the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Antonio Solorio gave the board an update on what is going on in the subbasin. He said they are revising subsidence measurements and will have those figures ready soon.
Dr. Peter Maraccini reported there has been more pumping due to lower surface allocations. He posted a map showing pumping trends in the district. Groundwater levels are improving in some areas and getting deeper in some areas. But overall the levels are improving and Maraccini said he isn’t currently seeing any places in the district of particular concern.
Resolutions
The first resolution, No.116-26 was to find all the CEQA impact reports for a 1,100 acre Rosemary Solar & Energy Storage System Complex project located on district lands. Campbell said Fresno County has adopted the EIR. She said district staff couldn’t find any problems and recommended adoption.
Director Jeremy Huges asked about traffic problems on the small country roads. The location is near Kamm and El Dorado Avenues. He said there is already a major traffic jam taking place. Emily McCrorie of Longroad Energy said this is a valid point although it was addressed in the CEQA review. She said Longroad will work with Fresno County to minimize problems. Huges is concerned about the traffic near Helm California which is dangerous enough. He said while this is a new problem, it is impacting growers negatively. He advocated a parking area to stage bus transportation. He wants this taken into consideration in all future approvals. McCrorie was very conciliatory on this point.
Huges said there are currently problems with insects and vegetation at other projects and he wants more consideration to these matters that can impact growers as well. Sounded reasonable to the rest of the board I think. They approved the resolution to accept the CEQA report.
The next item was Resolution No. 117-26 that will approve the Rosemary Solar project itself. Campbell said this could include some of the concerns addressed. Freeman said that could be incorporated in the agreement. McCrorie said she’s willing to include some additional, although less formal plans to address the concerns brought up today. That satisfied the board and it approved the resolution.
Water Quality
Solorio presented the board with proposed revisions to the Distribution System Integration Program Agreement. Coelho was concerned if there is enough focus on sodium as a constituent. Solorio said there are actually some consideration to using reverse osmosis to remove total dissolved solids. Huges said he doesn’t want well
water mixed with canal water in the lateral he uses. Director Justin Deiner said the only groundwater allowed to be introduced into the canal would have to be of as good or better quality than the canal water. Of course, this can be a moving target. Fortune said he’d like to see more information on how this could work. Febbo suggested perhaps moving this to an ad hoc committee to come to a better understanding. That board agreed. Let me take a moment here – Westlands’ groundwater isn’t a great big glow in the dark mess. They are just being careful.
North of Delta Supply
Campbell reminded us that while imported, supplemental supplies from north of the Delta can be scheduled for delivery and should show up there are unforeseen occurrences that could get in the way of this. So, what happens to the water that didn’t make it through the Delta? It can be recolored, meaning there are other options available to classify this water. There are questions that must be answered when doing this recoloring. The solution wasn’t agreed upon by all with Huges saying no for the proposed pre-allocation program.
Westlands’ M&I
Freeman reported the need for management of groundwater allocation for municipal and industrial uses is also impactful to the croplands in Westlands. There are rule and regulation changes proposed. Staff was looking for direction. Bourdeau asked if using well water for ranch housing or related non-crop usage they’d be OK as long as they are being good stewards. I think the answer was yes. That was the size of it and the board approved.
Public Comment & Closed Session
At 11:28am the in person and online audience was asked for public comment. There wasn’t any and the room was cleared of all on essential public personnel so the board could talk about us behind our backs. Not really, the board is only allowed to talk about litigation, personnel and real property matters when following the Ralph M. Brown Act. So, now you know what happened at Westlands. Go be good to yourselves and each other.
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*Can a non-governmental organization really be non-governmental if it can’t survive without government grants and contracts? Also, Febbo didn’t say clown cars, that was me.
**You’d think it’d be a little cooler from less hot air blowing around the Valley with the electeds out of town.
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Westlands Water District
286 W. Cromwell Ave, Fresno, CA 93711 Phone:559/224-1523
Board: Jeff Fortune -President, Jim Anderson – Vice President, Frank Coelho Jr., William Bourdeau, Ryan Ferguson, Ross Franson, Jeremy Hughes, Ernie Costamagna & Justin Diener.
Staff: Allison Febbo-General Manager, Jose Gutierrez-Lt. General Manger, Russ Freeman-Deputy GM Resources, Kitty Campbell-Supervisor of Resources, Steve Farmer-VP of Finance & Admin Affairs, Elizabeth Esposito-In House Counsel, Kelly Vandergon-Director of O&M, and Jim Carter-IT Guru.
About: Without irrigation, farming in the Westlands area of California would be limited and ineffectual. The history of Westlands is one of continual adaptation, careful water stewardship and advanced technology. By maintaining a fierce commitment to sustainability, the Westlands’ comprehensive water supply system continues to adapt, educate, and surpass conservation goals. Throughout its history, Westlands Water District has demonstrated a lasting dedication to water conservation and recognized that the long-term survival of its farms depends on the effective management of California’s precious water resources. From www.wwd.ca.gov
SGMA: Westland WD is in the Westside Subbasin and the Westlands WD GSA. DWR #5-022.09
