MEETING NOTES: Golden mussels, delta tunnel top Kern district discussions
Agenda packets:
Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District, Aug. 12: CLICK HERE
Cawelo Water District, Aug. 13: CLICK HERE
North Kern Water Storage District, Aug. 18: CLICK HERE
Golden mussels
Kern County agricultural water districts continue to face high costs to battle invasive golden mussels that can clog pipes and wreck equipment.
Locals also continued to wonder about the state’s apparent lack of action, particularly to treat infested, exported water before it gets to ag districts.
”I fully contest this could have been stopped before it got bigger had they done this at the beginning,” said Joel Ackerknecht, vice president of the North Kern board at its Aug. 18 meeting.
Estimates are it will cost Kern County water districts, collectively, about $36 million a year to keep the mussels to a manageable level, according to county officials.
North Kern discovered a significant infestation in the spring after running state water in its system for just a short time.
General Manager David Hampton said there were various organizations working in Sacramento to lobby for help with golden mussels.
But, so far, the California Office of Emergency Services has not declared a statewide emergency, which would loosen regulations and provide for some reimbursement of costs.
And costs are significant.
In the Cawelo Water District, Assistant General Manager Dave Halopoff, told the board at its Aug. 13 meeting that even though no golden mussels had been found, the district still plans to spend $640,000 this year for preventative treatment.
He added that Kern County reported CalOES is having difficulty declaring an emergency, in part, because the golden mussel issue will be ongoing.
“This is a weird emergency,” he said. “…CalOES has no idea how to handle this because usually when an emergency happens it is a one-time cost then you’re done here is your total, but this is not one of those. I don’t think (Governor Gavin) Newsom is going to want to do anything with how it is going, it is not a one-time thing.”
Delta tunnel funding and end of banking deal
Sheridan Nicholas, general manager for Wheeler Ridge, updated the board at its Aug. 12 meeting on changes to the district’s funding agreement with the Kern County Water Agency for the Delta Conveyance Project.
The project proposes to move Sacramento River water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta through a tunnel. Kern County agencies are being asked to fund $33 million toward pre-construction and planning, but will only fork over about a third of that amount.
Wheeler Ridge officially dropped its participation to just 1% of its state contracted water, Nicholas said. The district is not expecting a bill for the delta project until 2027.
The board approved the revision to its participation agreement.
Nicholas then sought approval to terminate its banking agreement with the Western Hills Water District.
In 2010 the district entered a water banking agreement with Western Hills, in which it would take some of Western Hills’ excess water and bank a portion of that for use by Western Hills in dry years.
Western Hills, which provides water to the Diablo Grande development in the foothills west of Patterson, had a long-term deal with the Kern County Water Agency for 8,000 acre feet of state water but never took its full allotment and was able to bank 4,791 acre feet with Wheeler Ridge.
In 2019, Western Hills stopped paying the Kern County Water Agency, amassing a $14 million debt and leading to the agency threatening to cut off supplies.
The disagreement was settled earlier this summer. As part of that settlement, the 4,791 acre feet banked with Wheeler Ridge will be transferred to the Kern County Water Agency and Western Hills will no longer have excess water to continue the banking agreement with Wheeler Ridge.
The board approved termination of the banking agreement with Western Hills.
