Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Gifford Fire Is California’s Largest Blaze This Year, Tops 82,000 Acres

23 hours ago

Wall Street Pares Gains After Fresh Economic Data; Earnings in Spotlight

23 hours ago

Israel Considers Full Gaza Takeover as More Die of Hunger

23 hours ago

US to Initially Impose ‘Small Tariff’ on Pharma Imports, Trump Says

23 hours ago

Cruz Criticizes Hochul for Wearing Headscarf at Slain Officer’s Funeral

23 hours ago

Trump Says Banks Discriminate Against His Supporters While White House Prepares Order

23 hours ago

Fresno Man Pleads Guilty in $30 Million Fraud Scheme

2 days ago

Texas Governor Vows to Replace Democrats Absent at Monday Redistricting Vote

2 days ago
Temperance Flat Dam Put on the Shelf Indefinitely
SJV-Water
By SJV Water
Published 5 years ago on
July 1, 2020

Share

An investment analysis that looked at how much it would cost water users to build and operate the proposed Temperance Flat Dam northeast of Fresno without government funding was finished earlier this year and quietly passed among water districts, which just as quietly asked the federal government to shelve work on the project.

A small group, made up of agricultural water districts and some cities, was assembled by the Temperance Flat Authority to participate in the investment analysis done by Stantec.

Portrait of SJVWater.org chief executive officer Lois Henry

Lois Henry

SJV Water

The group has still not made the analysis public as it was purposely kept in “draft” form exempting it from disclosure under the California Public Records Act.

SJV Water, however, obtained a copy.

The basic storage costs were staggering, according to the analysis.

If users simply stored their share of high-flow San Joaquin River behind the dam, it would cost them about $9,000 an acre-foot during the 50-year capital cost repayment period, dropping to $7,000 per acre-foot after repayment.

The analysis also allowed users to see what the costs would be if they used their storage account to exchange and transfer water, which brought costs down, in some cases to around $300 an acre-foot during repayment, which is still high for many farmers.

Though as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act limits groundwater pumping and farmers face the specter of fallowing possibly hundreds of thousands of acres across the Central Valley, that could be dirt cheap in the future.

But for now, Temperance Flat water was too pricey and there are too many other pressing issues for most ag districts involved in the analysis.

So, Temperance Flat is, once again, on indefinite hold.

The group has still not made the analysis public as it was purposely kept in “draft” form exempting it from disclosure under the California Public Records Act.

While no one is openly calling the analysis a death knell for Temperance Flat, its findings prompted the Temperance Flat Reservoir Authority to ask the Bureau of Reclamation to defer a planned feasibility study of the project for the next three to five years.

Map of the study area for the proposed Temperance Flat dam northeast of Fresno, California

Not Dead Yet

That doesn’t mean it’s dead, insisted Aaron Fukuda, general manager of Tulare Irrigation District and board secretary of the Temperance Flat Reservoir Authority.

Yes, Fukuda said, the analysis shows that using Temperance Flat as a traditional storage reservoir would be outrageously expensive.

But when you “manage” that water — moving it to recharge basins, using it in exchanges and transfers up and down the state — the price starts to come down, he said.

Think of it like the per-mile cost of a new car. If the car sits in your driveway 90 percent of the time, the per-mile cost is much higher than if it’s driven all the time.

“When you just take the inflow that was originally envisioned for Temperance Flat, that really wet year high-flow water, and put it behind a dam, that doesn’t generate a huge amount of water,” Fukuda said. “You have to think about how to use the reservoir when it’s not a high-flow year, that’s what can drive the costs down. The trick to Temperance Flat is not to use it for traditional storage and carry water over season to season but to exercise that storage space.”

Complicated Exercises

That could involve a number of different scenarios, which the investment analysis looked at, including exchanges for excess water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; having a large outside municipal water user such as Metropolitan Water District of Southern California participate; and various increases to a trans-valley canal.

For the Tulare Irrigation District, Fukuda said, they were able to bring their investment cost down to $500 an acre-foot by using the storage to “time shift” water.

For example, he said, Tulare Irrigation gets water off the Kaweah River. Say one spring, it’s flooding with more water than Tulare Irrigation can absorb but Arvin-Edison Water Storage District can use 100 CFS (cubic feet per second).

Tulare Irrigation could re-route its Kaweah River water to Arvin-Edison, which could reassign a like amount of its Temperance Flat water to Tulare Irrigation, which could then pull that water out later in the year so growers wouldn’t have to pump groundwater.

That would give users year-round water options.

“These were very complicated exercises that showed a benefit (to investing in Temperance Flat),” Fukuda said. “But we couldn’t finalize those exercises into an operational plan just yet. What was being analyzed in the Bureau’s feasibility report didn’t match our modeling so we asked for that to be deferred until we have an operational plan that looks at how we could use and exchange that water more creatively.”

He wasn’t sure when an operational plan would be completed.

Fresno Still Looking

“We are in a holding pattern,” said Mike Carbajal, director of Fresno Public Utilities.

Portrait of Michael Carbajal, director of Fresno Public Utilities

“We can’t say if it’s a good project or not. But we have an obligation to look at it.” — Mike Carbajal, director of Fresno Public Utilities

Using water management scenarios, Fresno was able to reduce its cost per acre-foot to between $2,039 and $2,608 during repayment, according to the analysis. That came down to between $275 and $362 an acre-foot after repayment, according to the analysis.

Those initial costs may seem high, Carbajal said, but cities have a larger pool of ratepayers to spread out costs and a longer planning horizon than ag.

“We’re living with water infrastructure that was built based on decisions made 50 years ago, so that’s the perspective we bring to these issues,” Carbajal said.

He noted that the city of Clovis approved a contract with the Fresno Irrigation District last year to pay $35 million, or $5,000 an acre-foot for 7,000 acre-feet, over 25 years.

So, Temperance Flat water prices weren’t a deal breaker for Fresno.

“We can’t say if it’s a good project or not. But we have an obligation to look at it,” Carbajal said.

Fix What’s Broken First

Optimism is running somewhat lower among ag districts that participated in the investment analysis.

“There was some value in the project but there are other things that need to be completed first,” said Chris White, executive director of the San Joaquin Valley Exchange Contractors, a group of water districts that stretches between Mendota and Newman east of Interstate 5.

Temperance Flat water for the Exchange Contractors was between $3,200 and $4,100 per acre-foot during repayment and $441 to $579 after.

Other projects taking priority include the Friant-Kern Canal, which has a number of issues, including a 33-mile long “sag” from Pixley south that was caused by massive over pumping near the canal.

That sag has reduced the canal’s carrying capacity by 60 percent.

Without a fully operational Friant-Kern Canal, a lot of the water management scenarios in the investment analysis wouldn’t be possible.

Fukuda said the analysis assumed a functioning Friant-Kern Canal.

The analysis also didn’t include possible litigation costs from environmental groups that have consistently opposed Temperance Flat as too costly for too little benefit on a river that they say is already oversubscribed.

If the sag can be fixed, along with a “choke point” at its confluence with the Kings River, there may not be a need for Temperance Flat, said Dana Munn, general manager of the Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District.

Potentially Dead

If the greater benefit of Temperance Flat isn’t traditional storage but in facilitating water movement, he said the same thing can be achieved by simply fixing the Friant-Kern Canal, and encouraging users to maximize recharge.

“We could pull a lot more water off that system,” Munn said.

He declared the project “potentially dead.”

Eric R. Quinley, general manager of the Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District, agreed.

“It doesn’t appear the forward momentum is there at this point,” he said.

Delano-Earlimart and Shafter-Wasco participated in the investment analysis as a joint stakeholder.

Delano-Earlimart got its costs down pretty low at between $331 and $423 per acre-foot during the repayment period and $45 to $59 per acre-foot after repayment.

Trust Issues

Aside from the money, there are trust issues that would need to be worked out, some water users said.

Bitter feelings, and an ongoing lawsuit, still linger over the Bureau of Reclamation’s interpretation of Friant water contracts during the 2012-2016 drought.

Considering that giant Westlands Water District has already announced it will petition the state for a share of San Joaquin River flood flows, there may be little enthusiasm for creating a bigger pot to target.

The Bureau gave what little water was in Millerton Lake to the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors in 2014 and 2015 while Friant contractors got nothing for the first time since the project was built in the 1930s.

If there was more San Joaquin River stored behind Millerton, some wondered, how would the Bureau interpret its ownership?

Fukuda was confident existing rights would extend to that new water.

Others weren’t so sure.

And it didn’t escape notice that the investment analysis included water districts from the valley’s west side.

“There’s always a sense of potential trepidation as you link in other portions of the state or federal projects with the Friant Division without a clear understanding of the fundamental bookends of those interactions,” Quinley said.

Any “new” pot of water in California automatically attracts water rights claims.

Considering that giant Westlands Water District has already announced it will petition the state for a share of San Joaquin River flood flows, there may be little enthusiasm for creating a bigger pot to target.

Temperance Flat Stats

  • Water source: high-flow San Joaquin River water
  • Potential storage: 1.3 million acre-feet
  • Cost: $3 billion
  • Government aid: $171 million of Proposition 1 funding allocated in 2018

About SJV Water

SJV Water is a nonprofit, independent online news publication covering water in the San Joaquin Valley. Lois Henry is the CEO/editor of SJV Water. She can be reached at lois.henry@sjvwater.org. The website is www.sjvwater.org.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

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

DON'T MISS

Central Valley Brewers Face Off in West Coast IPA Throwdown in Clovis

DON'T MISS

Slovenia Becomes First EU Nation to Ban Weapons Trade with Israel

DON'T MISS

Trump Suggests Vance Is His Likely Heir Apparent in 2028

DON'T MISS

Former Fresno City Attorney Returns to Serve as County Counsel

DON'T MISS

Trump to Host Armenia, Azerbaijan Leaders for Peace Talks on Friday, US Official Says

DON'T MISS

Two Suspects Wanted in Alleged Fresno Arson at T.J. Maxx on Shaw Avenue

DON'T MISS

‘Yes’ to Outreach, ‘No’ to Condoms. Fresno Supervisors Rein in County Holidays

DON'T MISS

Trump Declines to Say if He Supports or Opposes Potential Gaza Takeover by Israel

DON'T MISS

Fresno Three-Vehicle Crash Slows Traffic on Herndon Avenue

DON'T MISS

Trump Threatens to Take Over Washington DC’s Governance

UP NEXT

Former Fresno City Attorney Returns to Serve as County Counsel

UP NEXT

‘Yes’ to Outreach, ‘No’ to Condoms. Fresno Supervisors Rein in County Holidays

UP NEXT

Fresno Three-Vehicle Crash Slows Traffic on Herndon Avenue

UP NEXT

Who’s Off to a Strong Start in Raising Money for Fresno Area School Board Races?

UP NEXT

Valley Children’s Sees Big Spike in Summer Football Injuries. Has State ‘Overcorrected’ Its Rules?

UP NEXT

Fresno and Visalia Rank Among Least Educated Cities, WalletHub Study Shows

UP NEXT

Fresno Junkyard Fire Damages 17 Vehicles

UP NEXT

California Wine Industry Is Torn on Trump Tariffs

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Michael Angelo Chavez

UP NEXT

Fresno State Professor Combines Tech and Medicine in Cutting Edge Research and Care

Former Fresno City Attorney Returns to Serve as County Counsel

14 hours ago

Trump to Host Armenia, Azerbaijan Leaders for Peace Talks on Friday, US Official Says

14 hours ago

Two Suspects Wanted in Alleged Fresno Arson at T.J. Maxx on Shaw Avenue

15 hours ago

‘Yes’ to Outreach, ‘No’ to Condoms. Fresno Supervisors Rein in County Holidays

15 hours ago

Trump Declines to Say if He Supports or Opposes Potential Gaza Takeover by Israel

16 hours ago

Fresno Three-Vehicle Crash Slows Traffic on Herndon Avenue

17 hours ago

Trump Threatens to Take Over Washington DC’s Governance

17 hours ago

Who’s Off to a Strong Start in Raising Money for Fresno Area School Board Races?

18 hours ago

Two Chinese Nationals in California Accused of Illegally Shipping Nvidia AI Chips to China

18 hours ago

Senators Ask US to Probe Data Security Issues With DeepSeek

18 hours ago

Central Valley Brewers Face Off in West Coast IPA Throwdown in Clovis

The Central Valley Brewers Guild is gearing up for round two of its IPA Throwdown Series, with 12 local breweries set to compete in a West C...

2 minutes ago

Twelve Central Valley breweries will compete in a blind tasting West Coast IPA showdown on Aug. 9 at House of Pendragon’s new Clovis taproom, with the public deciding who advances to the final round of the IPA Throwdown Series. (GV Wire Composite)
2 minutes ago

Central Valley Brewers Face Off in West Coast IPA Throwdown in Clovis

A view of the site of Thursday's Israeli strike that damaged and destroyed residential buildings, at Shati (Beach) refugee camp, in Gaza City, July 4, 2025. (Reuters/Mahmoud Issa)
13 hours ago

Slovenia Becomes First EU Nation to Ban Weapons Trade with Israel

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance take part in ceremonies in commemoration of the Memorial Day holiday, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., May 26, 2025. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

Trump Suggests Vance Is His Likely Heir Apparent in 2028

14 hours ago

Former Fresno City Attorney Returns to Serve as County Counsel

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters ahed of boarding Marine One to depart for New Jersey, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 1, 2025. (Reuters)
14 hours ago

Trump to Host Armenia, Azerbaijan Leaders for Peace Talks on Friday, US Official Says

Two suspects are being sought in Fresno after allegedly starting a fire on July 15, 2025, at 2097 W. Shaw Avenue, and Valley Crime Stoppers is asking for anonymous tips. (Valley Crime Stoppers)
15 hours ago

Two Suspects Wanted in Alleged Fresno Arson at T.J. Maxx on Shaw Avenue

Garry Bredefeld Pride Parade
15 hours ago

‘Yes’ to Outreach, ‘No’ to Condoms. Fresno Supervisors Rein in County Holidays

President Donald Trump shouts to reporters as he walks on the roof of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 5, 2025. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
16 hours ago

Trump Declines to Say if He Supports or Opposes Potential Gaza Takeover by Israel

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

Search

Send this to a friend