By Don A. Wright
The Westlands Water District held its board of directors meeting on Thursday, March 21, 2024 at its Five Points field office. It was a beautiful early spring day on the San Joaquin Valley’s westside. You could clearly see the three rocks from wince Three Rocks got its name. The Five Points boardroom reminded me a bit of the old days at the offices on
Fresno Street, it was packed pretty tight. Also, due perhaps to the location getting a quorum looked to be a challenge. This was the first meeting I’ve been to since Jeff Payne became the new Assistant Manager, or as I like to call it, Lt. General Manager.
The Meeting
Things got jumping when Director Jeremy Hughes showed up at 9:12am. Chairman Jeff Fortune called the meeting to order and announced there will be a workshop following the meeting. There was no public comment. Item 7b was pulled from the consent calendar. This dealt with subbasin boundaries. The consent calendar was passed.
GM Report
General Manager Alison Feebo announced the steelhead population on the San Joaquin River is causing a problem. She said the US Bureau of Reclamation is even asking the National Marine Fisheries Service to push back against lowering the allocations. Department of Water Resources, the National Marine Fisheries Service and California Fish & Wildlife are being urged to take into account this is a slap in the face when we’re going through a wet year. Feebo said to be prepared for low allocations. Congressman Jim Costa sent a letter to the Bureau urging higher allocations.
Feebo also said the fight against unimpaired flows through the Delta is dire. She believes the Voluntary Agreements will be better for everyone, water contractors and the environment. In response from questions from the board the higher amount of steelhead may actually be a result of two wet years in a row. Also, the steelhead is a trout that has gone to sea and returned. There is cause to believe this large showing could be hatchery trout that wasn’t properly tagged by fin clips.
This all stems from biological opinions from more than a decade ago. Five agencies will meet behind closed doors to determine the allocation. DWR, NMFS, USBR, CF&W and the US Fish &Wildlife are the five agencies meeting. Payne said the mission is to force accountability and transparency. The closed door meeting could be more about politics than science.
Water Report
Tom Boardman reported Shasta storage is looking good for cold water pools for salmon this summer. Snowpack is above the April 1st average as is Folsom Reservoir. He said the steelhead situation has kept the federal Jones Pumping Plant to no more than two units, mostly one until the end of March. April has other restrictions, but he said if the April 1st average is attained there could be some relief and better allocations. Boardman said the migration period could wind up by the end of April San Luis Reservoir could fill by June. He said April flows will be key. At this point the federal share of San Luis is on track, it’s a bit of wait and see.
Eric Johnson asked about the pumps at the O’Neal Forebay being taken offline for repairs. The San Luis Canal and the DWR’s California Aqueduct deliver Delta water to the base of the BF Sisk Dam at San Luis Reservoir to the O’Neal Forebay where it is pumped into the SLR. The Bureau was supposed to be releasing a decision sometime today and an updated allocation tomorrow.
Legislation
Feebo reported on funding and Director Justin Diener asked about the Fish Friendly Diversion project for the Delta. This is a Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley plan.
On the state side there is interest from just about every quarter in increasing power transmission. The State Board is stepping on a rake over increasing fees. There is a bill to allow folks to remove their land from the Williamson Act if they can’t get water. One grower sitting in front of me said that includes everyone.
PIO Report
Elizabeth Jonasson reported on everything from participating in education to feeding the needing folks in the district’s boundaries. It was suggested in light of the allocations, the story about the impacts of less water is more than just the agricultural portion.
O&M
Bill Pierce was unfortunately ill this morning and Kelly Vandergon gave the report. He said things break and they fix them. There was, I believe, a cell tower for the district’s radio communication that was vandalized. He said there was only one pipe repair and they are continuing the work on the Pleasant Valley pumping station. The other Lt. General Manager Jose Gutierrez announced Vandergon will be taking over for Pierce who will be retiring next month.
Outside Agencies
Russ Freeman gave an update on the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority. Westlands is a SLDMWA member. He said he’s heard the O’Neal pump may be put off until the fall. It is important to get this fixed as a replacement takes more than a year.
There was a brief committee report, mostly financial and administrative. Bobby Ormonde reported there was no need to write off any bad debt in the past year.
SGMA
Kitti Campbell reported there was a record 58,000 a/f of recharge in February alone. The year total to the end of February was more than 300,000 a/f for the year.* She added there was also a record low pumping rate this past year. There will be a June
meeting to discuss responses to DWR’s take on the Groundwater Sustainability Plan.
Records Retention & Destruction Policy
Tommi Saghatelian, attorney reported on the work being done to update the district’s records retention and destruction policy – which was last completed in 2008. She said the plan presented to the board is in great detail. Experts have been consulted to get the biggest bang for the buck. Department heads will now be responsible for their documents’ status. Some records are permanent and can be scanned. A new plan to allow non-permanent documents to be destroyed without the board having to approve the minutia is included in the new policy. A resolution was passed to adopt the plan.
Public Comment
Under public comment Lindsay Cederquist reported there was a growers’ meeting recently and they have some suggestions for improved transfer policies. She was happy to hear the good recharge news and would like to have some more detailed information. They’d also like to have the recharge to be focused on the canal terminus as opposed to the unlined canals themselves – if I understood. The growers group would like an improved voting method for the system.
Will Coit said there are a lot of upper aquifer credits accumulating but not as usable. He’d like to see more of those credits be usable to continue the incentive for growers to recharge.
Jon Reiter said he also attended the grower group meeting and he said it’s the most positive such meeting he’s attended in 10-years. He said the recharge achievements are great. He said to not take the foot off the pedal and keep ready with recharge efforts for wet or dry years. He said he sees an 800,000 a/f recharge year. Feebo said she’d like Westlands staff to attend those growers meetings when appropriate.
There was another talk about solar power and there is an urgency to get this up and running. Transmission is key to moving this forward.
Closed Session
The meeting then went into closed session at 10:30am.
*The original version of this report was all wonky. I wrote 130,000 a/f of recharge instead of the correct 300,000 a/f of recharge. Sorry and thanks for those who kindly brought this to my attention. DAW
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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, Kevin Assemi, Ross Franson, Jeremy Hughes, Ernie Costamagna & Justin Diener.
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
