CONSTRUCTION OF BRAVO LAKE SPILLWAY

Board of Directors
President
David Bixler
Vice President
Richard Borges
Michael Thomas
Dave Martin
General Manager
J. Paul Hendrix
The Board of Directors holds regular public meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 9:00 am at the District office in Tulare.

Inside this issue:

Sustaining Our Groundwater Supply
2
Water Supply Outlook
3
Employee News
3

USBR and the Friant contractors have been dealing with this lawsuit for over 15 years now. In and out of court during this time, and now after a several-year effort to reach a settlement out of court, the matter is back in full swing in front of Judge Karlton, with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento. At this stage things haven't been going well for Friant, with the judge's recent rulings appearing to tilt the scales to the environmental side insofar as fish are concerned. His latest tack brings to the forefront the issue of the Endangered Species Act. The ESA has plagued water projects and operations in California on a major scale for some years now.
The Friant Unit has up to now grappled with other state and federal laws and provisions, with the ESA thought to be of minor significance since any endangered fish species linked to the San Joaquin River have long since disappeared. Judge Karlton, however, has determined that, assuming the USBR has illegally operated the project to the detriment of the historical fishery, the new long-term contracts for Friant are deficient in that ESA provisions have been inadequately addressed. The ESA is an ominous law and has generally not allowed any balancing of people v. environmental needs to be recognized. Friant is extremely concerned that the injection of the ESA into this case could conceivably force water releases down the river without any mitigation for economic impacts within the one million-acre Friant service area.
The farming and urban communities on the east side understand that the defense of their water supply may be as much a public education campaign as a court room battle. There has been formed a new organization called the Valley Water Alliance which has begun such an education effort. See the enclosed flyer for further information.

NRDC LAWSUIT Re SAN JOAQUIN RIVER

Tulare Irrigation District
1350 W. San Joaquin Ave.
Tulare, California 93274

Founded in 1889, Tulare ID was one of the first irrigation districts in California. Its purpose is to serve the water supply needs of the greater Tulare area, a rich and agriculturally diverse region within the Southern San Joaquin Valley. The water provided comes locally from the Kaweah River and is also imported from the Federal Central Valley Project.

LOOK INSIDE…
Construction of Bravo Lake Spillway
NRDC Lawsuit Re San Joaquin River
VISIT US AT...
www.tulareid.org

The TID Tidings is published quarterly by the Tulare Irrigation District. Questions about the articles or items appearing in the TID Tidings can be answered by reaching the Tulare ID office at (559) 686-3425

TID TIDINGS

1st Quarter 2005

TID owns about 25% of the shares of the Wutchumna Water Company (WWC) and, by way of agreements, manages the water supply for about another 25% of the shares. WWC is one of the oldest water rights holders of the Kaweah River system, having been established in 1872 and whose rights produce an average of about 63,000 AF of water each year. WWC's water is diverted from the Kaweah River into the Wutchumna Ditch, located upstream of McKay Point. Mid-way down the ditch is Bravo Lake, a 4,000 AF storage reservoir and regulating facility used to manage daily water operations. Bravo Lake was built around 1900 with the construction of a 20-ft high levee around a natural depression adjacent the town of Woodlake. Its only outlet is a large control valve and pipe under the levee at one end of the lake – there is no spillway to direct water over the top of the levee when it's full.
Having nominal storage rights in Lake Kaweah and possessing one of the best
Continued on page 3
Bravo Lake continued
yielding water rights in the river, WWC many times finds itself with no place to store daily flows to which it is entitled. In these situations if the WWC users do not need the water, it must pass on downstream for other purposes. This limited storage scenario had been particularly true in the winter and spring months, when the state's Division of Safety of Dams limits storage in the lake to only about 1,100 AF due to the risk of overtopping the earthen levee/dam with unanticipated runoff into the lake due to rain flood events. In order to store more, the state has told WWC that it must develop a fail-safe plan to get water out of the lake without any danger of eroding the levee or without the need for emergency valve operation by operators. A concrete apron over a portion of the levee and into the downstream Wutchumna Ditch was an obvious alternative but, unfortunately, an expensive one which was not deemed economically feasible.
In 2002 WWC hired Summers Engineering in Hanford to look at other alternatives and seek approval of the state for any plan selected. Summers conceived of a bay wall structure to be situated immediately in front of the outlet pipe and extending vertically almost as high as the levee surrounding the lake. This wall, a portion of which was to be notched out for weir board placement, would allow the lake to fill to nearly the top of the levee, provided the outlet pipe gate valve always remained open during winter months. With this wall in place, the lake could fill without warning and water could spill over the top of the wall and out through the pipe just as if an operator had anticipated the event and arrived on site to open the valve. By the spring of 2004 the state indicated that it would approve the plan and, with construction of the bay wall, would allow the lake to fill to about 3,400 AF during the winter.
So WWC began in earnest to undertake the project in the fall of 2004, a time of year least likely to disrupt the irrigation needs of its users when the lake and downstream ditch were out of service. After early preparations by WWC, construction was undertaken by TID forces. For the 24-ft high by 26-ft long bay wall and supporting structure, some 40 cubic yards of concrete were placed in one continuous pour. Before the pour, about 3,000 lbs of reinforcing steel was laid out inside plywood forms held together with metal support brackets. A 5 1/2 ft by 5 1/2 ft custom-built stainless steel gate valve was attached at the wall's bottom through which controlled releases are made for downstream users. All in all, the project took about 2 months to complete – just in time before the early winter set in. In February the state issued an operating certificate to allow the filling of the lake to a depth of 18.1 ft, thus creating 2,400 AF of additional storage space in the winter and spring months to better utilize WWC's water resource to its fullest extent. TID's O&M Superintendent Gene Bessinger and crew were all instrumental in seeing this project through to completion without major delays and within budget.

Important Dates To Remember
March
Bureau of Reclamation landholder forms must be on
file before receiving federal water
April
May
1st 2nd Installment Reminder Notice mailed

On average upwards of 650,000 AF of groundwater is pumped out of the underground each year within the Kaweah River basin – of this about 100,000 AF by TID farmers and 15,000 AF by the City of Tulare. This 650,000 AF meets about 60% of the irrigation and urban water needs of the area, so it's an important component of the total supply. This is particularly true in drought years when our highly variable surface waters are in short supply. For eons, the groundwater aquifer has been replenished naturally by rain and snowmelt runoff from the Kaweah River system of channels coursing through the lower foothills and alluvial portions of the valley floor.
Once, many decades ago, water levels were much shallower than today, since surface water continued to replenish the underground well in excess of its extraction. Many farming families tell of earlier generations' artesian well water flowing freely to the surface. Such conditions are no longer true today, as the demand for groundwater has risen tremendously with expanding agriculture and the influx of urban dwellers. Groundwater extractions to meet such demands now exceed its natural replenishment. Recent studies by the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District (KDWCD) indicate that, across the valley floor portion of the Kaweah basin, groundwater levels are dropping slightly each year, which translate to a reduction of stored groundwater totaling about 35,000 AF annually. This reduction in underground supplies is often referred to as groundwater overdraft.
So it has become paramount that the underground supply be replenished, i.e., recharged, with the goal of reducing, or ideally eliminating, the overdraft. How is this done? It's accomplished in two ways – one, to deliver surface water to groundwater recharge basins for percolation and, two, to deliver as much surface water to farmers, thereby alleviating their need to draw from the underground. These two practices are called direct and in-lieu recharge, respectively. By both means the underground supply is sustained for later use in dry years. This cycle of recharge and withdrawals is referred to as conjunctive use, i.e., using surface and groundwater in a manner to maximize overall supplies. Conjunctive use operations rely on taking full advantage of the wetter years of ample runoff to conduct recharge since such years only occur periodically. TID is a prime example of an irrigation district relying heavily on a conjunctive use plan to sustain long-term water supplies for its users.
In many wet years, the snowmelt runoff comes in the winter or very early spring, at times when storage reservoirs used by TID (Lake Kaweah and Millerton lake) must remain nearly empty and when irrigation demands are minimal. Thus, direct recharge is the only substantial means to get this runoff into the underground. Key to a successful direct recharge program is to percolate water in areas of high permeability and in areas overlying the deeper aquifer zones. West of Hwy 99, the aquifer has two distinct zones, separated by a thick, dense clay layer, called the 'E' clay by geologists, which slows the movement of water downward. Generally east of the highway, the clay thins out and direct recharge in this area will reach the deeper portion of the aquifer more quickly than to the west. Also, soil permeability generally tends to decrease from east to west, so percolation occurs faster in the easterly, upstream areas of the Kaweah basin. TID has in many years partnered with KDWCD in programs to take advantage of high winter runoff to fill upstream waterways and recharge basins so as to maximize groundwater recharge in these areas.
Also, we know enough about the science of groundwater flow, coupled with groundwater level measurements, to understand that groundwater moves in a southwesterly direction across the Kaweah basin. It travels slowly in some areas and faster in others. At deeper levels, travel is analogous to a pressure wave and “movement” is faster still. So recharge in areas upstream of TID benefit not only the immediate underground but eventually areas to the southwest as well.
Most of the previously-cited overdraft occurs in the westerly portion of the Kaweah basin, where surface supplies are generally less plentiful and groundwater extractions are at higher rates and from deeper levels. Thus it is also important to consider direct recharge programs in these areas when feasible. There's more storage capacity here and the reductions in pumping lifts are felt more immediately when recharge is accomplished in areas close to heavy pumping.
TID seeks to achieve a balance among recharge means and locations to maximize the benefits of these much-needed programs to sustain the area’s long-term groundwater supplies. Groundwater certainly fueled the early growth of this area's rich agricultural economy. This underground water supply, and the available storage capacity to hold local and imported surface water, will very likely remain just as important in the future for Tulare County's farmers as well as urban and industrial growth.

We've recently hired two additional people in our maintenance department. This now completes our goal set last year to fill five vacant positions. The new employees are Brad "Dieago" Minnis and Ray Tripp. Brad is a recent arrival in the Tulare area, having just fulfilled his duties as a U.S. Marine, last stationed in Florida. Ray Tripp has worked as a Production Plant Manager for Kidron (formally known as Gruman Olson) for about 34 years before he came on board. Both of these new employees are serving as Ditch Maintenance Persons. We are pleased to have their combined experience and enthusiasm in our midst and the Board and staff welcome them into our organization.
These two employees, together with three other newly-hired employees highlighted in our last issue of TID Tidings, were all hired not just to fill vacant maintenance positions but to also work as Ditch Tenders during water runs. You might say they've all had ample time to get their feet wet in this capacity, given all of the water currently being brought into TID!

EMPLOYEE NEWS

SUSTAINING OUR GROUNDWATER SUPPLY

Water Supply Outlook
1999 through 2004 were all below average in terms of water supplies in TID. This year, however, things have been turning around rather rapidly. The winter season started off early with rain and snowfall well above average by the end of last December. Overall, weather patterns for the southern San Joaquin Valley stayed relatively wet and forecasts are now indicating runoff projections of 130 to 140% of average for both the Kaweah and San Joaquin river watersheds.
Such wet conditions are translating into ample water supplies for TID. We’ve been running water since January 5th, primarily for groundwater recharge purposes. Between our Kaweah sources and imported water from the Friant-Kern Canal, we anticipate our irrigation/recharge run to continue without abatement until at least mid-August. This is good news for all of us and will provide much-needed relief for this groundwater basin which has been so heavily tapped during the last six years.

Water Fact
Worldwide, groundwater makes up a much larger percentage of the usable water supply than water stored in reservoirs, lakes and rivers. It’s about 1 million cubic miles in size, over 30 times the amount of fresh surface water!

Old Artesian Well

Brad “Dieago” Minnis

Ray Tripp