MODESTO -- Directors of the Modesto Irrigation District will talk Tuesday about forming an advisory committee on water system operations and upgrades.
The proposal comes three weeks after the board dropped a plan to sell water to San Francisco to pay for major improvements.
Several critics of the sale have urged that such a committee be appointed. It would consist of "various constituent organizations served by the district," according to a brief item on the agenda.
The board will consider the concept Tuesday and could decide the size and makeup later.
The idea is likely to draw interest from farmers, domestic water users, environmentalists and others interested in how the MID manages its Tuolumne River supply.
San Francisco, which taps the river upstream, had proposed buying about 1 percent of the MID's supply to start, at a price 70 times what farmers pay this year.
The city also sought more than 10 times that amount in future sales — water that would have been freed up by construction of small reservoirs to catch spills out the canal ends.
Those reservoirs are on the MID's $115 million list of upgrades over the next decade. So are connections between canals, improved automated controls and replacement of the nearly century-old flume carrying the Main Canal over Dry Creek.
The San Francisco proposal ran into fierce protest from people who feared that the MID would fall short of water in dry years. It also was opposed by environmentalists.
The board will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the district office, 1231 11th St., Modesto.
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