Catch up on the latest GSA board meeting recaps anytime—at home, on the road, or on your tractor.
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Staff discussed a potential 2027 shift from ET-based accounting to gross applied water, with an allocation around 0.82 AF/acre and a hard cap TBD. Staff reviewed the State Water Board's phased interim plan (Phase 1 near the Friant-Kern Canal; Phase 2 basinwide) and noted Phase 2 limits could be very low. Growers were urged to seek reconsideration of State invoices if banked/imported water was reported and to request a stay.
No groundwater business was conducted despite the GSA convening simultaneously with the Board. The Board introduced (intent to adopt) temporary event ordinance changes and approved a revised Temporary Events Manual, modernizing the process without expanding what qualifies as a temporary event; fee topics were deferred to September. The Board also adopted an updated left-turn lane screening resolution replacing an outdated methodology with a clearer, more defensible process.
Staff reported progress on reopening the canyon tunnel, with the engineering team leading active work on both portals. Terra Park drainage talks with MUSD and the City of Manteca are advanced and may reach the board within the next one or two meetings ahead of rainy season. The board adopted the encroachment policy (Res. 26-27-Y) and amended it to allow earth removal within district easements by permit rather than an outright ban.
The board approved roughly $40,000 for a demand management options analysis and $7,500 toward a subsidence investigation on the authority's western boundary. Staff reported ongoing difficulty securing landowner cooperation needed to fill groundwater monitoring data gaps, with a drilling deadline approaching year-end if volunteers are not identified. Board members were asked to help connect staff with willing landowners in target areas.
Staff reported that the state's Tule interim plan could impose a two-mile pumping moratorium along the Friant-Kern Canal by April 2027, and staff noted the framework could be analogized to the Tulare Lake Subbasin's subsidence issues. A court ruling may allow probation billing to proceed for some GSAs; the state also pushed back on the well mitigation plan and DWR called the subsidence approach too reactive.
