Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Salty Water Spat Erupts Over 'No Man’s Land' of Mendota Pool
SJV-Water
By SJV Water
Published 5 years ago on
January 24, 2020

Share

The federal government has OK’d a 20-year extension of a water exchange program for one Central Valley water district that another district says will illegally foul its water.
The Bureau of Reclamation billed the exchange program as a way to “optimize water supplies and reduce pumping impacts” by allowing a group of Westlands Water District farmers to pump groundwater into a small reservoir called the Mendota Pool for “credits” to retrieve water out of the San Luis Reservoir.

Portrait of SJVWater.org chief executive officer Lois Henry
Lois Henry
SJV Water

James Irrigation District Objects to Program

The James Irrigation District, which pulls from the Mendota Pool, says Westlands farmers are being allowed to pump in water that’s so salty it will make James’ water all but unusable. Meanwhile, Westlands farmers will get high-quality water for their crops.

The emerging fight over the water swap is another sign that California’s rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater basins are bigger battlegrounds than ever as new pumping rules settle in.
The emerging fight over the water swap is another sign that California’s rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater basins are bigger battlegrounds than ever as new pumping rules settle in.
The water exchange program does, indeed, generate more water for Westlands, said James Irrigation District General Manager Steve Stadler.
But Stadler said it puts his farmers’ crops at risk. He has already filed a notice of legal action over the issue with the Bureau, which approved the environmental impact report for the program Jan. 10.
Westlands approved the EIR at its board meeting Tuesday in Fresno over Stadler’s objections.
“The EIR before you concludes that water quality in the Mendota Pool is actually benefitted by your exchange program,” Stadler said at the meeting. “So, by pumping 1,600 TDS water into the Mendota Pool, that, per your EIR, is helpful to James Irrigation District.
“Well, quite frankly, we don’t need your help in that respect.”

Salt in the Wound

He referred to a section of the EIR that allows water with up to 1,600 total dissolved solids (mostly salt) to be pumped into the pool from a number of pump-in points owned by the Westlands farmers, known as the Mendota Pool Group.
Water at 700 to 800 TDS is considered the “sensitive limit,” according to the University of California Cooperative Extension research.
The 1,600 TDS is the maximum allowed from each pump-in, or discharge, point and it would be blended with other water in the pool, according to the EIR. Meaning, James’ water wouldn’t reach 1,600 TDS.
Perhaps not, Stadler said. But James’ contract with the Bureau specifies the water it delivers is not to exceed an annual average of 450 TDS. The exchange program will blow past that limit, he said.
The Mendota Pool Group is made up of 11 Westlands farmers or farm entities. Combined, the group has about 100 wells dotted around the Mendota Pool. Stadler estimated the group has close to 40 discharge points into the pool.

Westlands Says Program Benefits Other Districts

For their part, Westlands and the Bureau contend the exchange program provides greater water quality protection for James and other districts at the south end of the Mendota Pool. The 1,600 TDS is significantly lower than what was allowed in past years, according to the EIR.
The document also increases water quality monitoring and reporting and it requires pumping to be reduced or stopped if water quality degrades, according to Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham.

“If it’s crappy at the well-head, they don’t get credit for it so there’s no reason for them to pump it into the pool.” — Michael Jackson, area manager for Bureau of Reclamation
The exchange program doesn’t harm James farmers and creates a steady water supply for the Westlands farmers involved, Birmingham said.
That’s more important now than ever with the state’s new groundwater pumping measures set to phase in over the next few years.
“Twenty-five years ago, when a farmer went to see a banker, the last thing on the banker’s mind was water supply. Now it’s their first question,” Birmingham said. “This program and the duration of this program provides the farmer some certainty.”
And it’s not a free-for-all, stressed Michael Jackson, Area Manager for the Bureau.
Mendota Pool Group pumpers won’t get exchange credits for water that’s too salty, he said.
“If it’s crappy at the well-head, they don’t get credit for it so there’s no reason for them to pump it into the pool,” Jackson said.
(GV Wire/Alexis DeSha)

Banshees at the Pump

Jackson and Birmingham both pinned water quality issues on pumpers outside of the Mendota Pool Group who don’t have to adhere to the exchange program’s water quality rules.
Stadler didn’t buy that.
“The EIR assumes if you don’t have this program, there will be some hypothetical wild west scenario where everybody will pump into the pool like unregulated banshees, which is implausible,” he said at the Westlands meeting.
The amount of water pumped into the pool downstream is minuscule compared to the 25,000-acre feet a year pumped in by the Mendota Pool Group.
At this point, he added, the Bureau is allowing Westlands to regulate quality for federal water being delivered to James in violation of its contract.
Stadler wouldn’t comment on any potential lawsuits against Westlands.

Who’s in Charge?

At the center of this bruhaha is the Mendota Pool, a kind of “no man’s land” that’s a linchpin for water movement within the federal Central Valley Project. The pool lies about 35 miles west of Fresno at the confluence of two rivers and a canal and holds about 3,000-acre feet of water.

“In the pool, there aren’t any rules. It doesn’t have any regulated criteria. There’s no watermaster of the pool.” — Michael Jackson, area manager for Bureau of Reclamation
No one is actually “in charge” of the pool. The Mendota Dam is owned and maintained by the Central California Irrigation District.
But unlike other reservoirs whose inflow, outflow and water quality are regulated by the Department of Water Resources, Army Corps of Engineers, Forest Service or even PG&E, there is no agency or entity in charge of Mendota Pool waters.
“In the pool, there aren’t any rules,” the Bureau’s Jackson said. “It doesn’t have any regulated criteria. There’s no watermaster of the pool.”
Even the state’s new CV-SALTS (Salinity Alternatives for Long-Term Sustainability) effort has no regulatory authority over Mendota Pool water and didn’t make any comments on this EIR. The Regional Water Quality Control Board will include the program for analysis in a study it’s preparing on salt issues in the Central Valley, according to a board spokesman.
Water pumped into the state-owned California Aqueduct or federal Delta-Mendota Canal has to be permitted and adhere to quality standards.
Not so in the Mendota Pool.
Any ground rules on water quality have all been established by lawsuits between pool users.

‘Fuzzy’ in the Pool

That’s what happened in the 1990s when a group of water districts known as the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors, which take their water out of the north end of the Mendota Pool, sued this same exchange program for degrading their water quality and causing subsidence beneath the Mendota Dam.
The settlement gives Exchange Contractors a number of protections including that Mendota Pool Group members can’t pump (and get credits for) more water than there are demands south of the pool.
“By virtue of geography and those agreements, that (high TDS) water doesn’t come north to us,” said Chris White, Executive Director of the Exchange Contractor Authority.
Though the Exchange Contractors weren’t opposed to the 20-year extension of the exchange program, they would prefer the pumping program not exist at all, according to Steve Chedester, Director of Policies and Programs for the Exchange Contractors.
Because James is at the far southern end of the Mendota Pool, Chedester thought it might be hard to pin water quality issues on the Bureau, which delivers water at the northern end of the pool through the Delta-Mendota Canal.
“If the Bureau is degrading the water, you have something to say about that,” Chedester said. “But if someone else is degrading it along the way, it’s tougher to pin down. Who polices it? It’s very fuzzy in the Mendota Pool.”
Click here to read the EIR on the Mendota Pool Group water exchange program with the Bureau of Reclamation.
About the Author
Lois Henry is the CEO and editor of SJV Water. She has 30 years’ experience covering water and other issues in the San Joaquin Valley. Henry lives with her husband, five dogs, one orange cat, and a cranky rescue mustang horse in Bakersfield.

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Newsom Wants to Bypass Trump Tariffs With Direct CA Trade Deals

DON'T MISS

Markets Plunge With S&P 500 Down 6% and Dow Down 2,200 After China Retaliates

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Searching for Missing 12-Year-Old Girl

DON'T MISS

Madera Community College Unveils New Multicultural and Veterans Center

DON'T MISS

Fusion Energy Race Is On. Two Local Lawmakers Want California to Lead the Way

DON'T MISS

Saturday’s Spring Fest to Showcase Free, Low-Cost Activities for Fresno Kids

DON'T MISS

LA County Reaches $4 Billion Agreement to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims at Juvenile Facilities

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Deadly Marijuana DUI Crash

DON'T MISS

Judge Says US Must Return Maryland Man Who Was Mistakenly Deported to El Salvador Prison

DON'T MISS

These Fresno First-Graders Are Topping Their Peers in Reading

UP NEXT

Fusion Energy Race Is On. Two Local Lawmakers Want California to Lead the Way

UP NEXT

LA County Reaches $4 Billion Agreement to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims at Juvenile Facilities

UP NEXT

Staged Crashes and Insurance Fraud: Is Your California Commute a Target?

UP NEXT

Fight Over Phonics: Will CA Require the ‘Science of Reading’ in K-12 Schools?

UP NEXT

The NBA’s Playoff Chase Enters Its Final Days. Here’s a Look at What’s Happening

UP NEXT

USC’s JuJu Watkins Named AP Player of the Year After Historic Sophomore Season

UP NEXT

Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman Lands on Injured List Following Fall in His Shower at Home

UP NEXT

How Trump’s Latest Tariffs Could Affect Your Wallet

UP NEXT

Curry Scores 37 Points and Warriors Beat Lakers in a Potential First-Round Playoff Preview

UP NEXT

LA Fires Death Toll Rises to 30 After Remains Are Found

Madera Community College Unveils New Multicultural and Veterans Center

10 hours ago

Fusion Energy Race Is On. Two Local Lawmakers Want California to Lead the Way

10 hours ago

Saturday’s Spring Fest to Showcase Free, Low-Cost Activities for Fresno Kids

11 hours ago

LA County Reaches $4 Billion Agreement to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims at Juvenile Facilities

11 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Deadly Marijuana DUI Crash

11 hours ago

Judge Says US Must Return Maryland Man Who Was Mistakenly Deported to El Salvador Prison

11 hours ago

These Fresno First-Graders Are Topping Their Peers in Reading

12 hours ago

Fresno Burial Ceremony to Honor Five Abandoned Babies Set for Saturday

12 hours ago

Visalia Man Arrested for Soliciting Sex From Minor in Kingsburg

13 hours ago

Camalah Saleh Cruises to Win in Stormy Fresno State Student Elections

14 hours ago

Newsom Wants to Bypass Trump Tariffs With Direct CA Trade Deals

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday asked exporting countries worldwide to spare California their retaliatory tariffs, saying he plans to pursue dir...

9 hours ago

9 hours ago

Newsom Wants to Bypass Trump Tariffs With Direct CA Trade Deals

Specialist Anthony Matesic works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP/Richard Drew)
9 hours ago

Markets Plunge With S&P 500 Down 6% and Dow Down 2,200 After China Retaliates

Fresno police are searching for Unique Hernandez, 12, last seen on Friday, April 4, 2025, near Inyo Street and Maple Avenue, wearing all black clothing and carrying a black backpack. (Fresno PD)
9 hours ago

Fresno Police Searching for Missing 12-Year-Old Girl

10 hours ago

Madera Community College Unveils New Multicultural and Veterans Center

10 hours ago

Fusion Energy Race Is On. Two Local Lawmakers Want California to Lead the Way

11 hours ago

Saturday’s Spring Fest to Showcase Free, Low-Cost Activities for Fresno Kids

11 hours ago

LA County Reaches $4 Billion Agreement to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims at Juvenile Facilities

Antonio de Jesus Orozco Montes Deoca, 30, was sentenced on Friday, March 4, 2025, to 14 years and 8 months in prison for a deadly marijuana DUI crash in 2022 that killed one woman and injured four others. (GV Wire Composite)
11 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Deadly Marijuana DUI Crash

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend