New board will meet on groundwater plan for TID farms and cities

A new board will start its work Thursday on assuring that well pumping can sustain itself on farms and in cities in the Turlock Irrigation District.

The board, serving a zone from south Modesto to north Merced County, is one of many that will carry out a 2014 state law aimed at preventing overdraft.

The meeting will deal with basics such as a proposed first-year budget of $106,000, how to staff the agency, and its bylaws. It will start at 6 p.m. at the TID office, 333 E. Canal Drive, Turlock.

The agency could get final state approval in June, then would work for three to five years on a detailed groundwater plan. It would look at how much water is pumped now, how much is recharged through storms and flood irrigation, and what projects might improve things.

The new entity is formally known as the West Turlock Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency. The plan will be done in partnership with the East Turlock Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency, generally east of Ballico.

The full members of the West Turlock agency are TID; the cities of Turlock, Ceres, Hughson and Modesto; water suppliers for the unincorporated towns of Denair, Delhi and Hilmar; and the Stanislaus and Merced county governments. Each will pay $10,000 for the first year.

The agency has three “associate” members with $2,000 dues but no voting rights – Hickman, Keyes and Stevinson. The Monterey Park Tract, west of Turlock, had been involved but is withdrawing.

Other agencies will work on plans for the West Side of Stanislaus County, the part of Modesto north of the Tuolumne River, and other parts of the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 2:34 PM with the headline "New board will meet on groundwater plan for TID farms and cities."