fresno Archives - SJV Water

Big rivers kept in check as residents grappled with havoc from streams, springs and snowmelt in Madera and Fresno counties

March 18, 2023

• by Gregory Weaver, Fresnoland

Editor’s note: This story was done in collaboration with SJV Water and Fresnoland. By GREGORY WEAVER Fresnoland In Fresno and Madera counties, it was smaller streams and snowmelt that caused most of the flooding and other issues brought on by the latest spate of atmospheric rivers pummeling the state. That was especially true in…

Drinking Water • Drought

Farm town residents block water rate hike but are still stuck with a massive water debt

March 1, 2023

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Residents of the small town of El Porvenir in western Fresno County successfully blocked a water rate hike Tuesday at the Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting. The western Fresno County community, where nearly half the residents live in poverty, is already carrying a water debt of $400,000. That debt has been incurred over the…

Development

KVPR interviews SJV Water and Fresnoland about story on the perils of building on shaky water

February 21, 2023

• by SJV Water

LISTEN HERE Reporters Jesse Vad and Gregory Weaver talk to Kerry Klein with KVPR about their story on how taxpayers are bailing out homeowners who bought luxury houses in a development that should never have been built on groundwater. Fresno County Supervisors approved the Mira Bella development back in the 1990s despite multiple red flags…

Development • Policy

Debacle in the hills: How Fresno County officials ignored water warnings and why taxpayers are paying the price

February 6, 2023

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water and Gregory Weaver, Fresnoland

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was a collaboration between SJV Water and Fresnoland, a nonprofit news site that covers public policy in Fresno. Thirty years ago, residents told local officials that a boutique subdivision near Friant…

Personalities

Westlands names chief operating officer to serve as interim general manager

December 20, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Westlands Water District named its chief operating officer, Jose Gutierrez to oversee the sprawling district in western Fresno County until it hires a new general manager. Gutierrez will serve as interim general manager until May. The added duties will come with an additional $50,000 to Gutierrez’ $240,000 annual salary, the board announced at its Dec….

Friant-Kern Canal

Friant-Kern Canal fix on schedule; water quality guidelines discussed

December 14, 2022

• by Rose Horowitch, SJV Water reporting intern

The Friant-Kern Canal fix is underway and on schedule to be completed before Sept. 1, 2024, according to an update at a recent Friant Water Authority (FWA) Board of Directors meeting. “They’re on track, they’re on schedule,” Stantec Engineering’s Janet Atkinson told the board at its Dec. 9 meeting. ‘We don’t see anything right now…

Personalities

Long-serving, controversial manager of Westlands Water District resigns

November 23, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Longtime Westlands Water District General Manager Tom Birmingham announced Nov. 23 that he will retire as of Dec. 31. “I am retiring with extreme pride in the things Westlands had accomplished over the last two decades,” he wrote in an email announcement. Birmingham had faced the likelihood that a newly-elected majority on the Westlands board…

Drinking Water • Drought

Water debt doubles for residents of tiny, impoverished west Fresno County towns

October 20, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Water debt has ballooned to nearly double what it was last year in Cantua Creek and El Porvenir, two small towns in western Fresno County where nearly half the residents live in poverty. The towns were supposed to be getting water from two new wells by now but the project hasn’t been completed so they’ve…

SGMA

Fresno officials “irritated” by gravity in wastewater saga, according to ag district

September 10, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

The City of Fresno hadn’t bothered much recently with a mound of groundwater that accumulates beneath its southwest wastewater treatment plant every year. For decades, it traded a chunk of the water to the Fresno Irrigation District (FID) for about half the amount back in Kings River water, but had let that deal lapse the…

Personalities

Westlands GM gets contract extension despite grower objections

December 21, 2021

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern

During a contentious Westlands Water District meeting on Tuesday where growers spoke out against district leadership, board members voted 8-1 to extend General Manager Tom Birmingham’s contract another three years. As has been the district’s recent practice, the contract extension came a year before Birmingham’s contract expires. Westlands growers criticized Birmingham, expressed frustration at the…

NEWS

Big rivers kept in check as residents grappled with havoc from streams, springs and snowmelt in Madera and Fresno counties

Farm town residents block water rate hike but are still stuck with a massive water debt

KVPR interviews SJV Water and Fresnoland about story on the perils of building on shaky water

Debacle in the hills: How Fresno County officials ignored water warnings and why taxpayers are paying the price

Westlands names chief operating officer to serve as interim general manager

Friant-Kern Canal fix on schedule; water quality guidelines discussed

Long-serving, controversial manager of Westlands Water District resigns

Water debt doubles for residents of tiny, impoverished west Fresno County towns

Fresno officials “irritated” by gravity in wastewater saga, according to ag district

Westlands GM gets contract extension despite grower objections

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