A last-resort attempt to shore up funding for ongoing Friant-Kern Canal repairs has run into a buzzsaw of opposition from several irrigation districts that were stuck with the bill – up to $295 million.

Lisa McEwen

SJV Water

A letter disputing the fees accuses the Friant Water Authority, which operates the canal, of, among other things, extortion.

“What would you expect my districts to do?” asked Sean Geivet, general manager of Terra Bella, Porterville and Saucelito irrigation districts. “I’m pulling out all the stops now. There’s no need to play nice in the sandbox because Friant is not playing nice.”

The Friant Water Authority is about $90 million shy of the $326 million already spent to rebuild a section of the sinking canal and needs to show the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the canal, how it will pay for another $250 million in still-needed repairs.

The problem, according to Friant, is that the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency hasn’t paid what Friant says it owes as part of a settlement agreement reached in 2021. While some farmers in Eastern Tule get surface water from water districts, most rely exclusively on groundwater and have been blamed for the over pumping that sank the Friant-Kern Canal along a 33-mile stretch.

Subsidence caused a 33-mile section of the Friant-Kern Canal to sink.

Because anticipated money hasn’t come in from Eastern Tule, Friant sued alleging Eastern Tule’s groundwater accounting methods allowed continued over pumping and that it significantly underpaid on its obligation to Friant.

As that lawsuit has progressed, the Friant board voted in August to pin the bill on four water districts within Eastern Tule including Porterville, Saucelito and Terra Bella and the Tea Pot Dome Water District.

That did not sit well.

In letters protesting that decision, Porterville, Saucelito and Terra Bella accuse Friant of exceeding its authority, violating numerous contractual and regulatory requirements and flat out trying to extort money from the districts after an unfavorable ruling in its lawsuit against Eastern Tule.

In a July 2 ruling denying Eastern Tule’s request to dismiss some portions of Friant’s complaint, a Tulare County judge also stated that the 2021 agreement between Friant and Eastern Tule did not guarantee Eastern Tule would pay $220 million toward the canal fix.

So, Friant is trying to get that money either through the irrigation districts directly or by strongarming them to force policy changes in Eastern Tule, where they hold board seats, according to the districts’ protest letters.

“FWA’s (Friant Water Authority) brazen approach toward the Districts is properly characterized as civil extortion under California law,” Terra Bella’s letter states. Porterville and Saucelito sent letters stating they fully support Terra Bella’s stance.

Tea Pot Dome, which left Eastern Tule in June to form its own groundwater agency with neighboring Vandalia Water District, did not send a protest letter and is negotiating with Friant separately over the requested payments, according to its attorney Alex Peltzer.

“We think we can resolve it partly because the scale of our district is much smaller than the others,” Peltzer said of Tea Pot Dome. Tea Pot covers about 3,000 acres while Terra Bella, Porterville and Saucelito encompass approximately 50,000 acres.

The Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency

Up until the Aug. 12 Friant Water Authority special board meeting, Geivet said he believed the canal fix shortfall would be shared by all Friant Water Authority contractors, known as “the Family Plan.”

“I don’t know why (Friant chief executive officer) Jason (Phillips) decided on this path but I don’t care because it’s not legal and we won’t be bullied into paying more than our fair share,” he said.

The districts were given 60 days to respond to the Friant board’s action, and that period closes Oct. 11.

Johnny Amaral, Friant Water Authority’s Chief Operating Officer, said the board “adopted a fair and equitable cost recovery method for any outstanding costs to complete the Middle Reach Capacity Correction project.”

“We know that there are three Friant districts who have expressed opposition to the board-approved cost recovery method,” he wrote in a statement. “After the review period is complete, we will initiate discussions as appropriate to explore options to resolve any outstanding disputes.”

Geivet is anxiously awaiting Friant’s response.

“I know what I would like to see, but not everybody sees it that way,” he said. “I will continue to be made the fall guy. And Friant will continue to blame me and my districts for the predicament they’re in.”

Meanwhile, the entire Tule Subbasin is dealing with the repercussions of a probationary ruling handed down by the state Water Resources Control Board Sept. 17 in Sacramento. The effects of subsidence on infrastructure such as the Friant-Kern Canal weighed heavily in the board’s decision.

Letters were mailed to landowners last week that outlined fees and requirements for well registration, metering and groundwater extraction. Those are $300 per well and $20 per acre-foot of groundwater pumped.

While two groundwater agencies, Delano-Earlimart and Kern-Tulare, were exempted from the fees and reporting, all other extractors will be required to track their groundwater use starting Jan. 1, 2025 and submit annual extraction reports by Feb. 1, 2026. That will happen every February 1 for every subsequent portion of the water year that the basin remains in probationary status.

The Water Board also gave Pixley and Lower Tule River GSAs 60 days to prove they can reach sustainability and also be exempted from fees and reporting requirements.

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