The Fresno Irrigation District is 47 acres closer to its goal of building 1,300 acres of recharge basins capable of sinking 200,000 acre-feet of water during wet years.

Jesse Vad

SJV Water

It celebrated the completion of the 47-acre Kenneson and Sanchez basins on Aug. 21. The addition of those basins brought its total recharge acreage to 940, with 215 acres added since 2015.

And, the district has purchased another 350 acres for more recharge, said Bill Stretch, general manager of FID.

“But we need funds to engineer, permit and construct,” said Stretch. “In approximately the next five years we’ll bring those online, so at that point, we’ll be close to just under 1,300 acres of recharge basins.”

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The target, using all those projects, would be 200,000 acre-feet of recharge in a wet year, said Stretch.

Groundwater recharge has become vital as overpumped regions scramble to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which mandates aquifers be brought into balance by 2040.

Most of the San Joaquin Valley, including the Fresno region, has been deemed critically overdrafted by the state Department of Water Resources.

The Fresno Irrigation District has been moving water into the Kenneson and Sanchez basins since May, Stretch said. In an average year, the basins will recharge about 1,000 acre-feet. The project cost $6 million, with $4 million coming from FID, $1.6 million from a state grant, and $873,000 from a federal grant.

The district was able to capture and recharge 180,000 acre-feet during last year’s flooding using its own basins as well as recharge acreage owned by the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District and City of Clovis.

Partner entities within FID boundaries are also adding more acreage. FID is partnered with the cities of Fresno, Clovis and Kerman, which are aiming to add another 150 acres of recharge.

“We’ve worked very well and collaboratively with the cities of Fresno and Clovis since the 1970s doing recharge,” said Stretch.

Malaga County Water District, Pinedale County Water District, Biola Community Services District, Fresno County and Fresno State University are also coordinating with FID because each entity is part of the region’s groundwater sustainability agencies.

“They have numbers that they need to mitigate with 2040 in mind,” said Stretch. “And they’re all doing their part.”

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