winter 2011 kings river conservation district newsletter

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Channels, Levees Handle First Flood Release Water Safely Kings River Conservation District

food management sta membershad not had to deal with food wa-ter in ve years but the system they maintain came through January’s re-leases in great shape.

Regular maintenance and im-provements have routinely takenplace since the last food release in2006 and the Kings River food con-trol project is in excellent condition.

Te project received its rst foodfows rom Mill and Hughes creeks,

unregulated streams that enter the

river below Pine Flat Dam. Te creekssent fows in excess o 4,000 c..s. intothe river but, being less than fowsthat routinely occur during the ir-rigation season, passed through thesystem saely. Other such fows oc-curred later in December.

KRCD operates and maintains theKings River food control project orthe Corps rom southwest o Kings-burg to Empire Weir No. 2 at StateRoute 41 on the Clark’s Fork-South

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Fork system and to State Route 145

(McMullen Grade) on the NorthFork-James Bypass system. KRCDis also responsible or portions othe main Kings River, Cole Slough,Dutch John Cut and the Crescent By-pass.

KRCD’s Riverdale-based river op-erations sta handles maintenancealong the channels year round andsteps up patrols – to 24 hours a daywhen necessary – when high fowsoccur.

Mention o a food release cansound wasteul but the extra fows thatwere sent out o Pine Flat Reservoir dur-ing January to increase storage space a-ter the holiday season storms were put touse by the river’s water providers.

Te U.S. Army Corps o Engineers,which operates Pine Flat Dam and has ju-

risdiction over Kings River food opera-tions, began a food release December 30aer the reservoir’s storage encroachedinto space reserved each winter or foodcontrol.

It was hardly a torrent. Te Corpsestablished a target food release fow o

just 100 cubic eet per second (c..s.) overCrescent Weir near Riverdale.

However, Kings River Water Asso-ciation water entitlements or KRWA’s 28member agencies change during a foodrelease and each “unit,” as districts andcanal company are known on the river,are encouraged to divert all the waterthey can.

Since food releases most requently occur when soils are wet and little or no

Kings River Agencies Make the Most o Flood Release

irrigation demand exists, Kings River

units use food release water whereveracilities and conditions exist in pondsthat recharge the groundwater supply.

“Tis is a key part o the conjunc-tive use o surace water and groundwa-ter that is so vital to creating a ull water

supply or the Kings River service ar

said Kings River Conservation DistGeneral Manager David Orth. (Plesee the General Manager’s Report, P2.)

As a result, even a small food relewith a downstream target of 100 c..s. w

Winter 2011 Volume 35, No.

A small amount o Kings River food release water trickles over the James Weir spillway into the James Bypass near the end o January’s modest food release. Tis

water is destined or Mendota Pool and the San Joaquin River.



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Groundwater Controversy

Political, regulatory, and legal ghts over surawater have been going on in the San Joaquin since o

valley’s settlement began more than 150 years ago. Now, what could turn out toamong the biggest struggles is emerging over use o vital underground supplies.

Regulation o groundwater has been proposed by some or decades but nwhat appears to be another push toward state aquier control is in motion on

variety o ronts.

While the prospect o extending tentacles o regulating groundwater to valarmers, rural residents and communities seems to have an irresistible lure to somlocal management o groundwater is ar more eective.

For many years, all water agencies in the Kings River service area – with tKings River Conservation District in a leadership role – have quietly but e cien

established a number o important programs to counter groundwater overdra.Dealing with groundwater depletion, quality and reliability is one o the k

reasons the Upper Kings Basin Integrated Regional Water Management Authorwas organized. Te Authority is perhaps the most broadly based public eort – wrepresentatives o agriculture, urban and environmental interests – ever organizon the Kings. Te Authority’s participants seek a sustainable supply o the KinRiver Basin’s nite surace and groundwater resources through regional plannthat is balanced and benecial or all interests.

During a February 1 Assembly Parks and Water Committee hearing duriwhich I testied, it was clear that a groundwater regulation bill is high on the mio key legislators pushing Caliornia closer to what most parts o this state hanever had beore – direct state legal governance o groundwater, a supply prope

owners and communities have always considered to be a right o owning properA exas style o basin and local regulation gained some attention at the he

ing.

Te alarming act is that i the Legislature doesn’t impose some sort o grounwater registry, rights, licenses, controls and inevitable ees, other state agencies alining up to accomplish much the same thing.

Te Legislature has already imposed a mandate or extensive new groundwameasurement and monitoring, tasks which KRCD has agreed to undertake or tKings and ulare Lake groundwater basins.

Te Central Caliornia Regional Water Quality Control Board is considerinlong-term interim ag waiver water quality program that will include groundwamonitoring, taking the position that all irrigation leads to groundwater. Te theo

seems to be that any grower who irrigates – meaning all in the valley – has potentto pollute groundwater. Tis is just one part o a sweeping Regional Board eortplace all o agriculture under a blanket o strict state regulation.

Why is this so important? Groundwater is the foundation for agricultubusiness and life in our region. Except for a fraction of the municipal water uin Fresno and Clovis, every drop consumed by people and a great deal of twater used on farms is pumped.

Making better use o this vital resource is already being pursued locally aregionally on a cost-e cient basis. Te State should support, not take away rothese local eorts.

General Manager’s Report

David Orth

It wasn’t a record but thepotent series o storms that struck during the holiday season was agi that promises to keep on givingthroughout much o 2011.

So generous were these stormsthat much o the upper Kings Riverwatershed’s snowpack water contentby New Year’s weekend had reachedthe average attained in a normal yearon April 1 when snow conditions areassumed to peak.

Te season’s rst three Caliornia

Department o Water Resourcesnatural runo orecasts have all beenwell above average but decreasedduring the rst weeks o February because o a near total lack o precipitation between January 2 andFebruary 16.

Based on those conditions,DWR’s orecast on February 17 wasthat the Kings River could expectto have a ull natural fow duringthe peak April-July period o 1.54

million acre-eet, or 126 percent o average, assuming normal amountso precipitation occur or theremainder o the season. Te mid-February storm events appeared tobe o average intensity.

It was a dierent story in lateDecember. Accompanied by lengthy periods o moderate to heavy rain,amounting to 15-20 inches in someplaces, over the oothills and lowermountains, the wet weather led the

U.S. Army Corps o Engineers toconduct a food release rom PineFlat Dam during much o January.Te valley foor was also drenchedwith more than ve inches o rain insome areas.

Pine Flat’s seasonal rainall onJanuary 18 stood at 19.69 inches, 247

Good Water YearComes WrappedFor the Holidays

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Brent Graham o Hanord, now in hish decade o serviceto the Kings River, isthe new Kings RiverConservation Dis-trict President.

Graham waselected at the board’sJanuary meeting tosucceed Mark McKeano Riverdale as Presi-

dent. McKean pre-sided over the boardor our years. ElectedVice President wasthe newest KRCD di-rector, Dr. David Cehrs o Sanger.

Graham joined the KRCD boardin May 2006. He represents Division 5,which includes much o northern KingsCounty. Graham also serves on KRCD’sFlood Maintenance, Public Power andBudget and Audit committees.

Kings County Water Veteran Now Heads KRCD’s Board of DirectorsHis Kings River career began as a

Hydrographer or the Kings River WaterAssociation beore Graham was namedulare Lake Basin Water Storage Dis-trict General Manager in 1969, a postGraham held until his 2008 retirement.

He is a former Chairman of theLower (Kings River) Board of Directorsand the Kings County Water Commis-sion, and is long-time Secretary of theSan Joaquin Valley Agricultural WaterCommittee. Graham is Vice Chair of the

California Farm Water Coalition and theState Water Project Contractors Authority.

Graham retired in June 2008 as theGeneral Manager o the ulare Lake Ba-sin Water Storage District. Prior to be-coming General Manager o the Districtin 1969, he was a hydrographer or theKings River Water Association.

Dr. Cehrs joined the Board in 2008as at-large representative. Cehrs serveson KRCD’s Flood Maintenance and Ac-counts Payable committees.

He has volunteered in several orgnizations that deal with regional watresource management including the Rio Reyes Conservation rust, the hipite Chapter o the Sierra Club, anthe San Joaquin Valley Blueprint Planing Process.

He is a geology proessor at ReedlCollege and also works as a consultaon water supplies, water quality and rcharge.

Dr. Cehrs’ rst hydrologic emplo

ment was in 1973 with the Water Maagement Lab o the U.S. Departmeo Agriculture - Agricultural ResearService working on the Leaky Acrproject, a groundwater recharge acilin Fresno. He has also worked as a rsearcher on agricultural and municipwater problems including groundwatrecharge, groundwater fow, water quity/chemistry, and crop water demanHe is a registered geologist and certihydrogeologist.

Brent Graham

David Cehrs

Nearly two years aer its renewalduring a riverside signing ceremony, theKings River Fisheries Management Pro-gram (FMP) continues to progress witha variety o projects, activities, studies,monitoring and exemplary public in-

volvement.

David Orth, KRCD General Man-ager and a member o the program’sExecutive Policy Committee, said theinnovative program’s second decade iscontinuing the sort o cooperative ap-proach to planning and developmentthat has made the FMP stand out as aprogressive model.

“We are so ortunate on the KingsRiver to be able to work together andavoid the controversy over sheries andhabitat that surrounds so many Calior-nia rivers and streams,” Orth said. “I saidat the signing ceremony that in the pro-gram’s rst 10 years we had come a longway. Now, we’re much urther along andriver resources are better or it.”

Along with KRCD, the other part-ners are the Kings River Water Asso-ciation (KRWA) and Caliornia Depart-

Fisheries Management Program Moves Into Its Second Decadement o Fish and Game (CDFG). Teprogram was several years in the mak-ing and was enacted ormally on May 28, 1999.

Since its establishment, the FMPhas established an extensive planning,data collection, monitoring and scien-tic analysis process that has led to nu-merous habitat improvements. Toseinclude placement o boulders, spawn-ing gravel and shoreline coves and jet-ties, and other channel improvements.

Te most recent activity o theFMP is a riparian revegetation proj-ect approximately a mile downstreamrom Pine Flat Dam along about a 700eet long section o the river’s southernbank. In this location, there is very little

native vegetation. Te goal is to replantthis area with native plant species. Nine-ty-nine native trees and nineteen shrubswill be planted including: Deer Grass,Wild Rose, Valley Oak, Cottonwood,Willow, Ash, and Western Sycamore.

Te improved habitat will benetbirds and other wildlie along the river.Work began at the site in January o this

year and is expected to be completed bMarch. Te project is part o the FMPHabitat Enhancement Master Plan.

KRWA and KRCD annually con

tribute a total o $100,000 to the FMtotaling a $1,000,000 or the rst teyears o the program. Both agencies acontinuing their nancial support ovthe 10-year renewal period. Te CDFcontributed a total o $700,000 durinthe rst 10 years and plans to continuits nancial support or a total o $2 mlion as state unding is available.

KRCD biologist, Heidi Smith, prepares the ground or planting at the revegetation site



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Note to ReadersI it seems as i it has been a longtime since you’ve read an issue o KRCD News, you’re right!As an economy measure, theKings River Conservation Districthas decreased the requency o itsnewsletter’s publication to onceeach year.Our website, www.krcd.org, is up-dated regularly and includes sum-maries o KRCD and other KingsRiver projects and activities.

KRWA Hydrographer Ed Dittenbir and KRCD sta member Scott Cubillas measure snow depth Scenic Meadow, which is at elevation 9,650 eet. Te snow depth at this elevation was 65 inches

typically result in much higher actual

releases that are put to use benecially within the service area rather than fow-ing to the San Joaquin River and beyonduse in the Kings region.

Te Kings food release target fowat Crescent Weir was increased up to1,000 c..s. or a ew days beore beingreduced to 500 c..s. and nally 100c..s. Te food release ended February 1 but could resume later in the winteror spring.

Flood Releases, continued

Annual GroundwaterReports Completed

Kings River Conservation District

4886 E. Jensen Avenue

Fresno, CA 93725

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The KRCD News is published by the Kings River Conservation Districta political subdivision of the State of California serving 1.2 million acresin Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties.

Please send subscription requests to: Kings River Conservation Dis-trict, 4886 E. Jensen Ave., Fresno, California 93725 or e-mail to [email protected]. Visit our website at www.krcd.org.

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

percent o average. Although only our-tenths o an inch ell over the next sixweeks, Pine Flat’s February 16 total wasstill 174% percent o average.

Te October-December runo period generated a ull natural fow onthe Kings River o 340,000 acre-eet – a

third o Pine Flat Reservoir’s capacity – 341 percent o average and the sixthlargest such period on record.

During the peak o the stormon December 19, the Kings River’scalculated ull natural fow at Piedrareached 28,592 cubic eet per second.Such a fow would have caused extensivefood damage downstream had notPine Flat Reservoir been in existence tocapture the entire event.

When the season’s rst Kings Riverwatershed snow surveys were takenaround February 1, snowpack watercontent averaged 168 percent o normalor February 1 and 102 percent o thepeak average on April 1. Surveyors hada great deal o di culty in several areasgetting measuring equipment throughlayers o ice ormed by heavy rain early in the December event. Te snowpack’swater content was extremely dense atall elevations and more like what wouldbe ound in springtime.

Depending on rain and snowallduring the late winter and spring, thecurrent water year is likely to end upbeing the second in a row with above-average conditions.

Water Year, continued

Groundwater contour maps or2007-08 and 2008-09 are availableon KRCD’s website at the ollow-

ing link: http://www.krcd.org/wa-ter/groundwater_management/annual_report.html. Due to dry conditions, the 08/09 report re-fects an overall increase in depthto groundwater (an overdra o 637,000 acre eet was recorded). In07/08, a replenishment o 283,000acre eet was recorded due tolingering eects o the previous2005-06 water year, which was 173percent o average annual runo.

winter 2011 kings river conservation district newsletter

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