California Ag Network

Tag: Bureau of Reclamation

  • Friant Water Authority Appoints Julie Gantenbein to Serve as General Counsel

    The Friant Water Authority (FWA) announced the appointment of Julie Gantenbein, a respected water law expert and longtime advocate for effective water management in California, to serve as its General Counsel. Gantenbein has spent nearly 15 years as a shareholder at the Water and Power Law Group, where she built a strong reputation for her expertise in water rights, regulatory compliance, and statewide water policy.

    The decision was made at the December 12, 2025 meeting of the FWA Board of Directors and the appointment is effective immediately.

    “We are pleased to welcome Julie to the Friant Water Authority,” said Rick Borges, Chairman. “Her experience, approach to problem solving, and proven track record, will be a tremendous asset to the FWA Board of Directors.”

    Gantenbein’s legal career includes extensive experience in non-federal hydropower licensing and compliance proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), natural gas certificate and compliance matters before FERC, and regulatory proceedings for federal water control facilities before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

    She has also represented public agencies and conservation groups in cases involving hydropower, water rights, and the protection and enhancement of environmental and recreational benefits of public waters. In addition, she is a certified mediator with appellate experience.

    Gantenbein earned her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (2002) and her B.A. in International Studies (magna cum laude, 1998) from California State University Monterey Bay.

    Her expertise will help strengthen the Authority’s efforts to support the Friant Division’s water users, advance critical projects, and promote sustainable water management throughout the region.

  • Partnership, Funding Award to Advance South of Delta Drought Resiliency Pilot Program

    The United States Department of Interior, United States Bureau of Reclamation, along with the Friant Water Authority (FWA), San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority (SLDMWA), and the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority (SJRECWA), are pleased to announce the execution of a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a South of Delta Drought Resiliency Framework. This partnership establishes a program and advances projects that increase regional climate resilience in the San Joaquin Valley, and its implementation is being advanced through funding provided by the United States Bureau of Reclamation from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”) and the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”), which nearly doubled the annual funding provided to the Bureau of Reclamation over eight years. Today marks a significant milestone to improve climate resilience for the communities, farms, and ecosystems served by the Central Valley Project (CVP) contractors south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. ​

    Over the past decade, California has experienced unprecedented hydrologic variability, recording six of the driest years as well as two of the wettest years in California’s nearly 100-year historical hydrologic record.  While the historic unpredictability of hydrology in the state is the reason the CVP was built to begin with, the impacts of ever growing regulatory constraints on project operations has exacerbated the hydrologic variability, resulting in significantly reduced reliability of CVP water supplies for the Water Authorities’ member agencies. The Authorities involved in this MOU have collectively identified projects and potential actions aimed at enhancing drought resiliency south of the Delta, which will be referred to as the “South of Delta Drought Resiliency Framework.”

    The MOU establishes a cooperative and collaborative approach to implement drought resiliency projects and provides a framework for the Parties to work together, set short and long-term goals, and ensure successful implementation. The MOU is a living document that will evolve and change over time, with periodic updates to reflect progress made and new components identified. ​

    Key components of the Framework include: ​

    1. The development and implementation of a Drought Plan that allows participating entities to voluntarily conserve and securely store or exchange a portion of their CVP south of Delta deliveries for use in future years with lower supplies, in addition to supporting the advancement of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program.
    2. Allocation of Costs for Large Extraordinary Maintenance (XM) Projects, including the Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC) Subsidence Correction Project.
    3. Commitment by the Bureau of Reclamation and SJRECWA to develop processes to ensure that the San Joaquin River Restoration Program can provide specific flows past Sack Dam via the San Joaquin River to Mendota Pool.
    4. Resolution on the Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir Project by FWA and the Exchange Contractors to ensure it supports the objectives outlined in the Drought Plan.

    “It is critical that we not only continue to invest in new infrastructure to capture and store water to prepare for future dry years, but that we work collaboratively to make the most of the resources we currently have. This agreement marks a new level of cooperation that will help to mitigate the impact of droughts on urban, agricultural, and environmental water users in our region, and to advance the goals of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program while maintaining water rights. We appreciate the collaboration of our partners as well as the Bureau of Reclamation for their commitment and resources for this effort,” said Chris White, Executive Director of the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority.

    “As water operations certainty continues to decrease, and once reliable supplies become less so, it’s critical for water agencies and water managers to work together to find creative ways to meet our common goals”, said Jason Phillips, CEO of the Friant Water Authority.  “The agreement between our neighbors in the Valley, the San Luis & Delta Mendota Water Authority and the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority, as well as our partners at the Bureau of Reclamation, will help bring some predictability to water allocations and will help to provide certainty for the farms and communities we represent.  These efforts and outcomes are not easily achieved, but are a welcomed development and hopefully a sign of more partnering in the future.”

    “Today’s announcement is a positive step forward to improve climate resilience for the urban and rural communities, wildlife and wildlife enthusiasts, and agricultural productivity that the Water Authority’s member agencies support,” said Federico Barajas, Executive Director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. “This partnership – coordinated between the federal government and south of delta water users – and associated funding award will allow us to implement projects to improve our ability to manage water supplies across the dry years we know will come. This year’s allocation highlights the water supply reliability challenges that impact our members across all year types and further reinforces the need to develop proactive solutions to improve reliability. Today’s announcement advances one such solution and establishes a framework for south-of-delta water users and Reclamation to work together to improve outcomes for the San Joaquin Valley.”

    The South of Delta Drought Resiliency Framework represents a significant step towards ensuring a more reliable water supply for communities, farms, and ecosystems dependent on the Central Valley Project.

    The Exchange Contractors Water Authority, Friant Water Authority, and San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority express their gratitude for the funding provided by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and emphasize the need to secure additional funding to move these projects forward.

    About the Project Area
    The CVP water supplied by the Water Authorities member agencies serves approximately 2.5 million acres of agricultural lands within the San Joaquin, Santa Clara, and San Benito Valleys, a portion of the water supply for nearly 4 million people, including in urban areas within Santa Clara County referred to as the “Silicon Valley,” Fresno and Kern Counties, and millions of waterfowl that depend upon up to 200,000 acres of managed wetlands and other critical habitat within the largest contiguous wetland in the western United States.

    FWA is a joint-powers authority formed in 2004 by public agencies that receive water from the Friant Division of the Central Valley Project. Its primary purposes are to operate and maintain the Friant-Kern Canal and to serve the information and representation needs of its member agencies.

  • Record-Setting Winter Leaves Central Valley Project Well-Positioned at Start of 2024 Water Year

    A record-setting winter in 2023 has left the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project reservoirs in good shape as it begins the 2024 water year with 8.17 million acre-feet of water in storage.

    “We could not have asked for better conditions in 2023 and the rain and snow were a welcome reprieve after the driest three-year stretch ever,” said Reclamation Regional Director Ernest Conant. “The ample precipitation California received has left our reservoirs well positioned as we transition to a new water year.”

    California’s drought was effectively eliminated between December 2022 and March 2023 as a series of at least 12 strong and extreme atmospheric rivers hit the West Coast. The storms’ aftermath marked the first time since 2020 that none of California was in exceptional or extreme drought.

    Early in 2023, so much water was in the system that Reclamation declared the availability of Section 215 water for those able to enter temporary water service contracts. (Section 215 refers to a provision in the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 that defines temporary water supplies and allows non-storable water to be applied to lands otherwise ineligible to receive federal water).

    Reclamation’s initial CVP allocation of 35% in February reflected the improved hydrologic conditions. By March, Shasta Reservoir increased to 81% of capacity, and San Luis Reservoir, the largest off-stream reservoir in the U.S., increased to 97%. In April, Reclamation increased all CVP water supply allocations to 100%.

    Regional Director Conant added, “While we are pleased to start the 2024 water year with reserves, we know firsthand that California’s changing climate is unpredictable and dry years will undoubtedly reoccur. Reclamation will continue to manage water supplies accordingly and as always, encourage conservation and wise use of our water resources.”

    The CVP’s major reservoirs are (from north to south) Trinity, Shasta, Folsom, New Melones, Millerton, and the federal share of San Luis Reservoir. The water year begins Oct. 1 each year and ends Sept. 30.

    The CVP is the largest single source of irrigation water in California, typically supplying water to about 3 million acres of agricultural land in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys. The CVP also provides urban water for millions of people and industrial water, including that essential to the San Francisco Bay Area’s economy. Water from the CVP is also vital for the environment, wildlife and fishery restoration, including providing water to 19 refuges in the Central Valley, and hydroelectric power production.

  • Bureau of Reclamation Begins Minimal Releases of Water from Friant Dam for the Exchange Contractors

    On Friday, April 1, the Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water from Friant Dam into the San Joaquin River to provide supplies to the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors.

    The water released from Friant Dam for the Exchange Contractors would have otherwise available for delivery to Friant Division contractors in communities stretching from Madera and Chowchilla at the north to as far south as Bakersfield and Arvin in Kern County. The amount of water to be released could be as large as the total water supply needed to meet the needs of Los Angeles for an entire year. Currently, the Friant Division Class 1 water allocation from Reclamation is still at 15%, although that number may decrease because of these releases.

    The impacts of this loss of water for the Friant Division will be staggering for both humans and the ecosystem. This summer, it’s likely that dozens of small and rural or disadvantaged communities on the valley’s eastside will require emergency water supplies as their wells go dry when the aquifers they rely on are not recharged with Friant water. The releases will also eliminate the cold-water pool behind Friant Dam, completely decimating the river’s newly burgeoning Spring run salmon population when it returns this fall to spawn in 70-degree water.

    This is occurring because Reclamation is obligated to deliver San Joaquin River water to the Exchange Contractors if the agency is unable to deliver them Sacramento River supplies pumped from the Delta. There is an ongoing and unresolved legal dispute over Reclamation’s interpretation of its specific obligations to the Exchange Contractors and the Friant Contractors believe more water is being taken away than is required under the Federal government’s contracts. Nevertheless, the main reason for the need to release water from Friant Dam in the first place is that Delta supplies are increasingly unreliable.

    And although 2022 is a dry year, poorly designed regulations meant to protect Delta-dependent fish species and our collective inaction to improve water infrastructure in the Central Valley for more than a generation are the underlying problems preventing enough water from being moved through the Delta. One day, Californians will wake up to realize that they didn’t sacrifice farms to save fish – they lost both. — By the Friant Water Authority