Water Supply Notice

2021 Lower Tule River Irrigation District

Water Supply Notice

 

April 16, 2021

To: Water Users

This year has turned into an extremely dry year with precipitation and runoff to date tracking similar to 2014 and 2015, which were two of the driest years on record.

The current Bureau of Reclamation allocation is 20% Class 1. When combined with a dry year forecast on the Tule River, it will result in a very small Lower Tule supply. With a low allocation such as this it will result in no summer water run for LTRID in 2021.

Most of Lower Tule’s allocation will be delivered to Terra Bella ID under an exchange agreement that has been in place since 1977. Under the agreement, TBID sends LTRID all water in excess of irrigation demand in above normal years in exchange for LTRID sending TBID water to meet their irrigation demands in below normal years. While it is understandably painful in a year such as this to not have a water run, it is important to understand that this exchange agreement, through this year, has yielded LTRID 14 acre-feet received for every 1 acre foot given up. This is even more important and beneficial under SGMA and the need to become sustainable over the long term.

The dry year and very limited supplies will result in no water availability for Pixley ID.

If you have any questions, feel free to call the office at 559-686-4716.

Sincerely,

Eric Limas
General Manager

December 17, 2020

To: Water Users

In 2014, the State of California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which regulates the use of groundwater in the State of California. Groundwater Sustainability Plans, under SGMA, became effective February 1, 2020. More information related to the District’s plan is available on our website www.ltrid.org in the SGMA section.

As part of Lower Tule’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan, the District’s Groundwater Planning Commission and Board developed a set of Rules and Operating Policies. Below is a link to a summary of the policies. The policies are also posted in the SGMA section on our website.

LTRID 2021 GSP Quick Reference Guide

At the December Board meeting the Board approved Groundwater credit allocations of: 0.77 AF/acre of Precipitation yield, 0.15 AF/acre Sustainable yield and 0.91 AF/acre of District allocated credits. For a total of 1.83 AF/Acre of Groundwater credits. Surface water allocations will be made at a later date once the District supply is better defined.

The District allocated credits of 0.91 AF gives all landowners access to their share of the imported surface water that has been recharged by the District. By allocating it as a groundwater credit, you will have access to your share by pumping it from a groundwater well.

Along with allocating all landowners their share of the surface water through these groundwater credits, comes the requirement that everyone pay for their share of that water. The Board set the rate for the District allocated groundwater credits (0.91 AF/acre) at $43/ AF. You can expect to receive an invoice for your share of the water during January or February.

Keep in mind that as we transition to sustainability by 2040, there are also Transitional water credits available in 2 tiers. The rates for those tiers for 2021 are $90/AF for tier 1 and $180/AF for tier 2.

Details of the allocations are in the attachment. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to call the office.

If you have any questions, feel free to call the office at 559-686-4716.

Sincerely,

Eric Limas
General Manager

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September 19, 2019

To: Water Users

Below are updates for the current water run updates for both Lower Tule and Pixley. There have been a few things come together and we were able to put together some water to extend our runs a bit.

Lower Tule – Based on current demand the water run is anticipated to end at the end of October or early in November. The water rate is $95/Af.

Pixley – Based on current demand, Pixley’s water run is expected to end in mid to late November. The water rate, starting October 1 is $125/AF.

As always, we are still working on obtaining more water that will be available this fall which could extend those dates and/or bring water in this fall.

We will continue to send updates as things develop.

Also, check out our new website and mobile app for your phone to place water orders on the go.

If you have any questions, feel free to call the office at 559-686-4716.

Sincerely,

Eric Limas
General Manager

May 16, 2019

To: Water Users

The Bureau of Reclamation has announced an extension of the unlimited Uncontrolled Season through May 31.

At the May Board meeting, the Lower Tule Board set the water rate for the summer, starting June 1 at $95 per acre foot.

The Board also made the decision to continue to give 80% groundwater credits to landowners recharging water in their own on-farm recharge basins.

Also, check out our new website and mobile app for your phone to place water orders on the go.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to call the office at 559-686-4716.

Sincerely,

Eric Limas
General Manager

 

April 11, 2019

To: Water Users

At the April Board meeting the Board set the water rate for May at $85 per acre foot. The summer rate will be in the $95-$100 range.

For whatever, reason, we have had more than a handful of issues where water users are not following District water order policy. Users are turning on when they want to, shutting off when they want to and making changes in the field. When this happens, it either shorts water for water users downstream, or causes the ditch tenders to have to make adjustments in the canals to move extra water other places. This causes extra labor costs and inefficient water operations, which cause increased costs to the District and thus, the water users. This issue was discussed at length in the April Board meeting, at which the Board directed staff to send out this reminder, as well as the message that if this continues to be a problem, and/or gets any worse, the Board will take further policy action, which will include penalties for any water users who do not abide by the policy, in order to cover the extra costs involved with managing the water in these instances.

Reminder for all water users – The District water ordering policy is for water orders to be placed by 9:00 am, 24 hours in advance, with turn on and turn off time of 7:00 am. Because the Friant Kern canal is running heavy currently, the District is having to order water 48 hours in advance. We only hold the water users to 24 hour orders. This means there is not much flexibility if water users place a water order and either do not hold it for the 24 hours or want to change their order.

Also, check out our new website and mobile app for your phone to place water orders on the go.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to call the office at 559-686-4716.

Sincerely,

Eric Limas
General Manager

 

Orders Online

Set up your account and review your bills  for the year. Take advantage of the chance to view your usage numbers on a daily basis and send in your orders to avoid the morning hassle.

Set Up Your Account Today in the “For Landowners” section — Click Here

2019 Pixley Irrigation District

Water Supply Notice

May 16, 2019

To: Water Users

The Bureau of Reclamation has announced an extension of the unlimited Uncontrolled Season through May 31. Pixley will continue to run as long as the unlimited Uncontrolled Season operation is in place. District staff continues to work diligently to secure water for a summer water run.

At the May Board meeting the Pixley Board set the water rate for the summer, starting June 1 at $165 per acre foot.

The Board also made the decision to continue to give 80% groundwater credits to landowners recharging water in their own on-farm recharge basins.

Also, check out our new website and mobile app for your phone to place water orders on the go.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to call the office at 559-686-4716.

Sincerely,

Eric Limas
General Manager

 

April 13, 2019

To: Water Users

As always with flood operations, things change on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. The amount of water being released and the duration of releases is predicated upon storms, inflows and storage levels in the reservoirs. Currently the Bureau is updating operations weekly.

The current Millerton Reservoir operations is as follows; Class 1 allocation 100% and a block of flood water allocated to Class 2 contractors that has to be delivered by April 30. Due to Pixley’s lack of a Friant water contract, we have to rely on purchasing water from other Districts who have excess water. We have been fortunate in that we have been able to purchase enough water to sustain a run that started at the end of February and is currently estimated to end on April 17. We will continue to work with other districts to purchase any water that might become available. Due to the week to week management of the flood operations things could change, but that is the plan for now. We will send out updates as conditions change.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to call the office at 559-686-4716.

Sincerely,

Eric Limas
General Manager

 

Orders Online

Set up your account and review your bills  for the year. Take advantage of the chance to view your usage numbers on a daily basis and send in your orders to avoid the morning hassle.

Set Up Your Account Today in the “For Landowners” section — Click Here