Irrigation Leader July/August 2015

Volume 6 Issue 7

July/August 2015

Securing Water Supplies Through District Partnerships: Arvin-Edison Water Storage District’s Steve Collup

Learning to Not Recreate the Wheel

By Kris Polly

S

teve Collup, engineer-manager of the ArvinEdison Water Storage District, is the epitome of an irrigation district manager, direct and solution oriented. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and have three favorite quotes from his interview.

His answer to my question about the most important thing he has learned is the philosophy of this magazine is my first favorite quote.

“I am an engineer by trade, so I’m a problem solver. But I’ve learned to not recreate the wheel. If you look outside of your district, you can come up with real solutions to your problems that others have already tried and are proven.

Don’t work in a vacuum; incorporate other districts into your universe of resources. I cannot overemphasize the value of partnerships and working cooperatively with others.”

Steve’s quote explains the thinking behind his district’s approach to water management, storage, and deliveries.

Over the last 20 years, the district has focused on system improvements and local partnerships. In times of plenty, it banks water for its farmers and its municipal partners.

During times of drought, the district uses its aquifer storage and makes use of internal district water markets to ensure deliveries. Having now survived two years without water deliveries to the district, Steve and his board of directors are to be commended for their foresight and leadership.

My second favorite quote from Steve’s interview

discussed how the many interties and connections with other irrigation districts, canal, and river systems have yielded additional flexibility and solutions.

“One thing you learn from all these connections, big or small, is that they have a common trait. While you typically build them for a particular purpose or need, once they are complete, you soon realize dozens of other ways to utilize them—their uses being limited only by your, or your partner’s, imagination.”

Solutions lead to solutions. What a great way to consider the infrastructure of an irrigation district and to think about other potential uses for meeting the needs of irrigators.

My third favorite quote from Steve’s interview is his response to my question about his message to Congress.

“First of all, I absolutely deplore politics. If you have a problem you want me to solve, I’ll invest in finding a real solution, but if you want to play political games, count me out.”

His actual quote was a bit more colorful and made me laugh, but I still like this version.

Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.

The Water and Power Report www.WaterAndPowerReport.com The Water and Power Report is the one-stop aggregate news site for water and power issues in the 17 western states. Sign up for the free “Daily” service to receive e-mail notice of the top headlines and press releases each business day.

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Irrigation Leader

JULY/AUGUST 2015

C O N T E N T S 2 Learning to Not Recreate the Wheel

Volume 6

Issue 7

Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by Water Strategies LLC 4 E Street, SE Washington, DC 20003 Staff: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief John Crotty, Senior Writer Robin Pursley, Graphic Designer Capital Copyediting LLC, Copyeditor SUBMISSIONS: Irrigation Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request.

ADVERTISING: Irrigation Leader accepts one-quarter, half-page, and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

CIRCULATION: Irrigation Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors. For address corrections or additions, please contact our office at Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright Š 2015 Water Strategies LLC. Irrigation Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Irrigation Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Irrigation Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Irrigation Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised.

COVER PHOTO: Steve Collup, Engineer-Manager for the Arvin-Edison Water Storage District Irrigation Leader

By Kris Polly

4 Securing Water Supplies Through

District Partnerships: Arvin-Edison Water Storage District’s Steve Collup

10 Recycling Water for Irrigation

By Mike McCullough

14 The Collaborative Moving Forward

Effort Responds to Future Colorado River Basin Challenges

By Doug Hendrix

ASSOCIATiON PROFILE

18 Groundwater Management

Districts Association

By Mark Rude

BUSINESS LEADER

24 Dirk Lenie Water Law

28 Canal Maintenance and Operations

After WOTUS

By Robert Johnson

Innovators

32 Beehive Industries 36 Classified Listings 3

Securing Water Supplies Through District Partnerships:

A

rvin-Edison Water Storage District (AEWSD) covers 130,000 acres south of Bakersfield in California’s Central Valley. Organized under California law in 1942, AEWSD subsequently contracted with the Bureau of Reclamation for supplemental surface water supplies and power services from the Central Valley Project (CVP). As a result of landowners coming together in response to declining groundwater levels (dropping 8 to 10 feet per year), today nearly half of the district’s irrigation water comes from the importation and regulation of district surface water supplies.

To deliver 150,000 acre-feet a year for grapes, citrus, vegetables, and cotton and another 20,000 to address groundwater overdraft, AEWSD operates an extensive water delivery infrastructure: 45 miles of lined canals, 50 pumping plants, and 170 miles of pipelines.

To assist in regulating those supplies, AEWSD also operates water banking facilities comprising 1,500 acres of spreading ponds and nearly 80 extraction wells.

Due to its innovative partnerships and planning, AEWSD has been able to sustain deliveries to its farmers amid a record drought and two straight years of zero allocation from the CVP. At the district’s helm is Engineer-Manager Steve Collup, who started managing AEWSD in 1995. Irrigation Leader’s editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, spoke with Steve about weathering drought, water banking, and partnering with other districts.

Kris Polly: How did the district get started?

Steve in front of a 5,500 horsepower motor at the Forrest Frick Pumping Plant.

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Steve Collup: The goal in the creation of the district was to arrest groundwater overdraft, and thus provide for a sustainable supply. In that regard, it was determined that if we could get about half of our farmers off groundwater by substituting surface water, we could stabilize the remaining groundwater supplies for the other half of district farmers.

Irrigation Leader

Arvin-Edison Water Storage District’s Steve Collup At the time the project was teed up, a farmer could choose to stay on his well or take a district contract, and either way, the district’s goal was to firm up water rights and equate the costs of the two supplies. It has always been our principle to set surface water rates the same as groundwater pumping rates, to try and balance the value of the two supplies. It really is a conjunctive use program utilized to balance the needs of the district as a whole.

[AEWSD’s Reclamation] contract has a delivery range of zero to 350,000 acre-feet in any year. It is a highly variable and erratic supply. We never get a perfect year with, say, 150,000 acre-feet to deliver straight to farmers.

We always have too much or too little water, so our goal is to regulate this erratic supply to a fairly constant irrigation demand. This is accomplished in part with our water banking facilities, which help the district store excess water in the wetter years and make use of it in dry years to meet deficiencies.

Kris Polly: Please tell our readers about your district’s current drought situation.

Steve Collup: It is pretty tough here in California.

[AEWSD] is in the Friant Division of the CVP. We are in our second year of zero allocation. A lot of farmers are making some very hard decisions.

Arvin farmers are doing well given the circumstances.

Because of our water bank and multiple water management partnerships, we have significant supplies from which to pull. Last year, we pulled out over 98,000 acre-feet from our bank and also retrieved some surface water supplies from key water management partners. Subsequently, we were able to deliver approximately 2.5 acre-feet per acre. This year, we anticipate extracting another 88,000 acre-feet and to deliver 2 acre-feet per acre, which is a far cry from zero.

However, those withdrawals have also taken a toll on our groundwater reserves.

Kris Polly: So you store water for other entities?

Steve Collup: The only entity that we have a formal agreement with is Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan). That [agreement] started in 1997, giving [AEWSD] an infusion of capital Irrigation Leader

to develop more water spreading facilities and extraction facilities. Metropolitan also provides us State Water Project supplies in wetter years for a return of a portion of those supplies in drier years.

A nice thing about the program is that we only return water to Metropolitan in off-peak months—months in which we have unused capacity to extract water out of the water bank that will in no way affect district operations or water supply. We had looked at partnering with several agricultural districts, but their program needs always competed with our own demands for water, which as you might imagine, follow a typical agricultural demand for water in the peak summer months.

However, as we learned in discussion with Metropolitan, a large urban entity does not require that water be returned in only those months. To Metropolitan, water in January and February, or in November and December, for example, has every bit as much value in drought years as summer flows, due to Metropolitan’s ability to store and schedule supplies. That concept, while very simple, was absolutely key in putting together a program with benefits to both parties.

And the program benefits have been tremendous.

Besides providing Metropolitan with a dry year supply south of the delta, it has generated a lot of revenue for AEWSD. We have invested that revenue in water management facilities, which have strengthened our own supplies. And with time, we keep finding additional opportunities and better ways to do things that we never envisioned prior to the program.

I mentioned that the district’s water supply is volatile.

There are some years in which we get an extra 100,000 or 200,000 acre-feet above irrigation demand, and it is challenging to find a place to store it all. As a part of expanding our relationship with Metropolitan, we can now move a portion of that water to storage-rich Los Angeles and receive it back a few months later or the very next year at a time we can utilize it. This transfer and exchange enhances the water quality of the [California] aqueduct and reduces Metropolitan’s treatment costs—so they like receiving our water.

I can’t place enough emphasis on the value of our relationship with Metropolitan and, in general, on working with other agencies that are different from your own.

Finding mutually beneficial programs and developing 5

strong, reliable partnerships pays so much more in dividends than you initially contemplate.

Kris Polly: What other projects has the district undertaken to improve conservation and service to its farmers?

Steve Collup: Our focus has been on how we manage our water and on giving farmers flexibility when they need water. With that in mind, the district has undertaken about $100 million worth of water management projects over the last 20 years.

Much has gone to off-canal storage. We have installed balancing reservoirs—a couple at the head end of our system that store 200 acre-feet of water, and one at the southern end that stores about 125 acre-feet. The new storage allows farmers to order water for whatever period that maximizes their efficiency. They are not forced to take water for a full 24-hour period.

In addition, well producers don’t have to shut down the wells at night or weekends just because demand goes

down. The reservoirs give us a place to put it and regulate it. That additional production is saved to meet dry-year needs. And, in the case of the larger reservoirs, if there is a power failure, stored water can feed back into the canal until repairs are made. That helps smooth out operations.

More recently, at the southern end of the district, we raised the canal liner, installed control structures, and added pump-back facilities, all of which gives the district the ability to reverse-flow the direction of the canal. When you have water bank facilities, you typically have water coming into your system at various locations. It is injected at different places in your system. So the ability to back up, store, and reverse flow our canal becomes critical in managing and delivering those supplies. This project cost about $20 million.

Having connections to other facilities also enables you to move water around and manage it more effectively.

We have recently invested in two new connections to the California Aqueduct. The district constructed a bidirectional intertie (a $12 million pipeline and pumping plant), as a part of our program with Metropolitan, that

District water bank facilities - the Sycamore Spreading Basins in wetter times.

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Irrigation Leader

runs from our south canal to the California Aqueduct.

We have also raised the canal liner, added new pumping plants, and created additional canal capacity in the CrossValley Canal in Kern County. The district’s cost share for 100 cfs [cubic feet per second] was nearly $15 million.

We have also completed many smaller, but valuable, interties with neighboring districts as well as other canal and river systems. One thing you learn from all these connections, big or small, is that they have a common trait.

While you typically build them for a particular purpose or need, once they are complete, you soon realize dozens of other ways to utilize them—their uses being limited only by your, or your partner’s, imagination.

Kris Polly: In addition to the long-term system improvements, what are you doing right now to address drought?

Steve Collup: We have pulled out all of the stops these last two years of zero allocation. One of our primary goals is to keep our wells going 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Well production from our water bank is our primary supply and can only be generated when the wells are running. Our repairmen are on 24-hour call to keep the wells running and producing.

This year, the district also expanded a program for farmers to pump their own well water into our canal. The district will then convey it to where the farmers need it to go or, as an alternative, they purchase it. We meter all pumping into the canal—everything in our district is metered, which has been the norm since initial deliveries in 1966.

We also have a prorate program that includes several turn back–purchase pools. For the six months of the year in which farm irrigation demand falls within what our well-fields can produce, there is no proration of water deliveries. For the remaining six months, however, in which the peak summer demand exceeds what our water bank can produce, we prorate our water users.

During that time, the district also runs pools into which farmers can buy and sell water, thereby transferring water into the hands of the people who need it the most.

The purchase cost of our first pool was $400 an acre-foot, while our second pool ran at $300, and the third, close to the end of the proration period, will be $200 an acre-foot.

Contrast that with external market water rates that run anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500 an acre-foot this year.

Irrigation Leader

Kris Polly: In your 20 years as district manager, what is the most important thing you have learned?

Steve Collup: I am an engineer by trade, so I’m a problem solver. But I’ve learned to not recreate the wheel.

If you look outside of your district, you can come up with real solutions to your problems that others have already tried and are proven. Don’t work in a vacuum; incorporate other districts into your universe of resources. I cannot overemphasize the value of partnerships and working cooperatively with others.

Developing partnerships continues to pay dividends.

Once or twice a year, I’ll call up another district for a tour.

I’ll spend a half-day in their district, and they’ll do the same in mine. I have found that even though we may do similar things, the way we go about it is so different. So I always get new ideas about how to improve something in my own operation, or how I can easily work with this district to accomplish a goal of theirs or of mine. A lot of times, there is little or no cost involved.

Value in water management is relative. Often a district can provide what may be a large benefit to you that takes little effort from them, and vice versa. You have to get out of your box and talk to others to discover these things.

It is almost like a treasure hunt, as I always discover something of value.

Kris Polly: With drought legislation in the pipeline, what is your message to the U.S. Congress?

Steve Collup: First of all, I absolutely deplore politics.

If you have a problem you want me to solve, I’ll invest in finding real solution, but if you want to play political games, count me out.

Our district has been involved in several environmental efforts over the years because we are straightforward problem solvers and are willing to explore new ideas. We support the environment. But we have a problem with the administration of Endangered Species Act. The situation is completely out of balance now; instead of making the environment an equal partner with agriculture and M&I [municipal and industrial], the State of California has made it the number 1 priority, and at all costs. That is unsustainable. It is an ideal that we cannot afford—it is not feasible, it is not reasonable, and it is not prudent. As I approach retirement, it makes me glad to know that I also have family in Colorado.

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Recycled water in a beaker.

Recycling Water for Irrigation

By Mike McCullough

T

he Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency (MRWPCA) provides wastewater and reclamation services for 11 member agencies that surround the Monterey Bay. A byproduct of those services involves the provision of recycled water to California farmers who grow a number of crops, including artichokes, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and strawberries.

MRWPCA comprises the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, the City of Salinas, the Boronda County Sanitation District, the Castroville Community Services District, the City of Del Rey Oaks, the City of Monterey, the City of Pacific Grove, the City of Sand City, the City of Seaside, the Marina Coast Water District, and the Moss Landing County Sanitation District. Each member entity appoints a representative to the MRWPCA board of directors and is responsible for maintaining and operating its own collection system. Overall, the MRWPCA serves a population of 250,000 people and treats 16.5 million gallons each day.

With the construction of the Castroville Seawater Intrusion and the Salinas Valley Reclamation Projects, MRWPCA began delivering recycled water to fields near Castroville in 1998. The Salinas Valley Reclamation Project treats wastewater to an advanced tertiary level that meets state recreational use standards, including its unrestricted use on freshly edible food crops. Capable of producing up to 91 acrefeet of recycled water a day, it is the largest sewage treatment facility in the world that recycles wastewater for edible food crops. The use of recycled water has helped reduce the farmers’ need to pump groundwater.

Water in the dual media deep filters.

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Irrigation Leader

After treatment, the recycled water is held temporarily in an 80-acre-foot storage pond before it is distributed to 12,000 acres of farmlands via the underground pipelines of the Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project. Since 2010, Monterey County has made releases from a couple of reservoirs in southern Monterey County, down the Salinas River to that storage pond. Operators inflate a rubber dam and pump the releases out of the river water up into the storage pond. All told, 64 percent of irrigation is recycled water, 15 percent is groundwater, and 21 percent is the river water.

Two years ago, 2013, was the driest year on record for the state of California, and 2014 was really dry as well.

Under these conditions, Salinas River flows have dried up, decreasing flows into the wastewater treatment plants. So MRWPCA has been working on identifying other sources for the water recycling project. We are in the preliminary planning stages for that.

For example, MRWPCA was looking at some of the water that is used in produce processing in Salinas. Water

is used a couple of times in washing greens for bagged salad, then it is disposed into a facility for aeration and evaporation. So in 2014, we worked with the City of Salinas to install a plug in the line and divert the water into MRWPCA’s pump station. That water is eventually treated for reuse.

It amounts to 3 to 4 million extra gallons of water that we can reuse for the growers. We estimated that almost 800 million gallons of water were reused last year during the growing season. It has been a really successful collaboration.

Mike McCullough is the Recycled Water Program assistant for the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency.

To learn more about the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency and its water recycling program, contact Mike at (831) 645‑4618 or MikeM@mrwpca.com.

Irrigation turnout in fields of strawberries.

Irrigation Leader

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The Collaborative Moving Forward Effort Responds to Future Colorado River Basin Challenges

By Doug Hendrix

T

he challenges and complexities of ensuring a sustainable water supply and meeting future resource needs in an over allocated and highly variable system such as the Colorado River have long been recognized and documented by the Bureau of Reclamation, the seven Colorado River basin states, and many stakeholder organizations. Consequently, for the last century, significant investments have been made in constructing infrastructure, developing scarce water resources, and implementing innovative conservation programs and policies to sustain current and future water use and supply needs.

Today, nearly 40 million people rely on the Colorado River and its tributaries for some, if not all, of their municipal water needs. These same water sources are used by farmers in the Southwest to irrigate nearly 4.5 million acres of land in the Colorado River basin, generating billions of dollars a year in agricultural and economic benefits. There are 22 federally recognized tribes in the basin for whom the Colorado River and its tributaries are essential as a physical, economic, and cultural resource. In addition, the Colorado River and its tributaries provide habitat for a wide range of species, flow through 7 national wildlife refuges and 11 National Park Service units, and provide a range of recreational opportunities that add significant benefits to regional economies.

Realizing that the Colorado River is an essential lifeline for meeting these human and environmental water use needs, in 2012, Reclamation, in partnership with the basin states, published the most comprehensive study of future supplies and demands on the Colorado River ever undertaken. The Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study (Basin Study) confirmed what most western water experts already knew: In the absence of timely action, there are likely to be significant shortfalls between projected water supplies and demands in the basin in the coming

decades.

In addition to identifying potential future shortfalls, the Basin Study also confirmed that a wide range of solutions are needed to mitigate or adapt to these shortfalls, which are likely to affect each sector (agricultural, municipal, energy, and environmental, for example) that is dependent on the Colorado River and its tributaries.

Genesis of the Moving Forward Effort

The Basin Study demonstrated that the implementation of a broad range of options can improve the basin’s resiliency to dry and variable hydrologic conditions and help lead to long-term sustainability. Implementing such options requires diligent planning and collaboration that applies a wide variety of water management ideas throughout the basin.

With this in mind, in May 2013, Reclamation and the basin states, in collaboration with the Ten Tribes Partnership and conservation organizations, initiated the Moving Forward effort to build on future considerations and next steps identified in the Basin Study.

“The Moving Forward effort focuses on building upon and enhancing the broad, inclusive stakeholder process demonstrated in the Basin Study with an ultimate goal of identifying actionable steps to address projected water supply and demand imbalances that have broad-based support and provide a wide-range of benefits,” said Carly Jerla, engineer with Reclamation’s Boulder Canyon Operations Office and manager of the Moving Forward process.

Moving Forward Phase 1 Completed

The Moving Forward effort is being conducted in a phased approach, and phase 1 began with the formation of a coordination team and three multistakeholder work groups. Each work group is led by three co-chairs and consists of members with subject-matter expertise from various stakeholder entities in an effort to bring important and different perspectives to the work groups. Work group

View of the All-American Canal just below Imperial Diversion Dam. Photo credit: Alexander Stephens, Bureau of Reclamation.

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Irrigation Leader

membership includes federal and state agencies, local municipalities, agricultural organizations and irrigation districts, federally recognized tribes, nongovernmental organizations, consultants, and other interested stakeholders.

The three work groups are as follows: • Municipal and Industrial Water Conservation and Reuse Workgroup • Agricultural Water Conservation, Productivity, and Transfers Workgroup • Environmental and Recreational Flows Workgroup The overall purpose of the work groups during phase 1 was to further investigate these areas by documenting past and projected future trends and exploring the opportunities and challenges of various water management actions. Each work group identified potential future actions to address critical challenges related to projected water imbalances that provide a wide range of benefits and have broad-based support.

On May 12, 2015, the collaborative Moving Forward Phase 1 Report was published. The report documents the outcomes of phase 1, with chapters contributed by each of the work groups. The work groups highlighted statements in their chapters to further the understanding of the roles of municipal and industrial (M&I) or agricultural water use efficiency and environmental and recreational flows in building adaptable and resilient solutions to address potential future supply-and-demand imbalances. Several of those statements have commonalities across work groups, as discussed below.

First, the work groups’ assessment of efforts currently underway highlighted that much progress has already been made in M&I and agricultural water conservation, as well as in protecting and enhancing environmental and recreational resources. For example, it is estimated that over 2 million acre-feet-per-year of water has been saved from M&I water conservation and reuse efforts over the past two decades.

In the agricultural sector, water use has remained relatively constant over the past two decades, while agricultural water use efficiency efforts have contributed to significant improvements in productivity (for example, greater yield per acre-foot of applied water). At the same time, meaningful and significant steps have been taken to protect or improve ecological and recreational resources in a number of locations.

Second, building on past successes, water managers are accelerating efforts to increase water use efficiency and reuse.

A review of water conservation program targets suggests that throughout the basin, over 700,000 acre-feet per year of additional water conservation is planned by 2030, and an additional 400,000 acre-feet per year of water reuse is planned. This will be a substantial contribution to meeting the imbalance projected by the Basin Study. Similarly, improvements in efficiency in the agricultural sector will likely continue the trend of increased productivity. Water Irrigation Leader

managers have been and will continue to adapt to uncertain future conditions and will accelerate or expand programs in response to the unfolding basin-wide conditions. However, it is likely that future water use efficiency actions will become increasingly more expensive and difficult as the least expensive and easier actions are implemented.

Third, there are no basin-wide, silver-bullet solutions for water use efficiency or for protecting environmental and recreational resources. The basin is diverse in terms of climate, location, and types of irrigated agriculture; location of metropolitan areas; maturity of water conservation programs and efforts; species needs; recreational opportunities; and other factors. Efforts that are effective and relevant in one location may not be as effective or acceptable in another.

In total, the Moving Forward Phase 1 Report identifies opportunities and potential actions that convey the perspectives of the work groups regarding the role of their respective sector in being a part of the solution set needed to address the challenges identified in the Basin Study.

The opportunities were developed to reflect the areas of greatest potential benefit and could be implemented during future Moving Forward phases or by stakeholders under separate efforts. Twenty-five opportunities were identified by the work groups. Similar components across the three work groups include opportunities related to funding and incentives, data and tools, outreach and partnerships, coordination and integration, infrastructure improvements, and flexible water management.

Moving Forward Trajectory Now Established

The Moving Forward Phase 1 Report completes the first phase of the Moving Forward effort. In phase 2, which will commence in fall 2015, the coordination team, with input from the work groups, will integrate and synthesize the phase 1 opportunities and potential future actions identified by the work groups and identify several proposed pilot projects. Additionally, it is the hope of the participants of the Moving Forward effort that the phase 1 opportunities and potential future actions will be considered and undertaken by willing funding partners and interested stakeholders outside the Moving Forward effort.

Editor’s Note: The Moving Forward Phase 1 Report is available at http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/ crbstudy/MovingForward/index.html.

Doug Hendrix is the public affairs specialist for the Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado Regional Office. You can reach Doug at (702) 293-8391 or dhendrix@usbr.gov.

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Association Profile

Groundwater Management Districts Association

By Mark Rude

F

orty years ago, the managers of the groundwater management districts that are over the Ogallala aquifer recognized that there was a significant opportunity to learn from each other about their differing approaches to groundwater management. So the staff and board members of those districts, who were from five states and possessed a wealth of information, came together to discuss project successes and failures, as well as institutional challenges within their respective states and at the federal level. The Groundwater Management Districts Association (GMDA) grew out of those initial conversations.

Today, the GMDA is a nonprofit organization established to provide groundwater management districts, groundwater developers, users, and land owners the opportunity to exchange ideas and develop or influence programs for the development, utilization, conservation, protection, management, and control of groundwater.

Preserving Local Control of Groundwater Management

The main issue for GMDA members is, first and foremost, preserving local control over initiatives to manage local groundwater resources. Recent federal claims to groundwater, particularly the management of groundwater resources, are of real concern to GMDA members. Federal initiatives, such as the development of the rules setting forth federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act and the proposed—and now withdrawn—U.S. Forest Service groundwater directives, appear to infringe on local control of groundwater resources. The potential effects of those regulations on land values and local economies are very significant.

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Groundwater Management in California

Last year, California passed legislation to regulate local groundwater supplies. It seems that the California Sustainable Groundwater Management Program carries with it a sort of shock, if you will, caused by the institutional leap to move from no statewide groundwater management program to the development of groundwater sustainability agencies within a defined timetable.

GMDA can help with management strategies and identifying the groundwater management tools that have been discussed and developed in various places around the country.

Future Meetings

GMDA members hold their annual meeting in January and a summer conference in June. The summer meeting was added to increase the type of collaboration that is so valuable for association members.

The next regular meeting of GMDA will be in Sacramento, California, in January. Also, GMDA plans on having a presence at the National Water Resources Association’s Western Water Seminar in early August in Monterey, California. Both of those instances provide an opportunity for Californians to meet GMDA members and consider the benefits that GMDA might provide them.

Mark Rude is the president of the Groundwater Management Districts Association. For more information about the association, contact Mark at (620) 275‑7147 or mrude@gmd3.org.

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Business Leader

Dirk Lenie

T

he Lindsay Corporation has been at the forefront of pivot technology innovations since the late 1960s.

The company manufactures center-pivot, lateralmove, and hose-reel irrigation systems and sells them through its worldwide network of dealers.

Dirk Lenie is the vice president of global marketing irrigation at Lindsay. He leads Lindsay’s global marketing, web and multimedia strategy, and public relations efforts.

After attaining a master of business administration from the University of Chicago, Mr. Lenie entered the irrigation business in 1979. He has worked for Toro Irrigation and Rain Bird Irrigation, and he has spent the last 15 years with Lindsay. Irrigation Leader’s editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, spoke with Mr. Lenie about Lindsay, water conservation, and the future of irrigation.

Kris Polly: Please tell our readers about Lindsay’s history in irrigation.

Dirk Lenie: This July, Lindsay Corporation will be 60 years old. It was started in the town of Lindsay, Nebraska, two hours west of Omaha. It started in 1955 with a towline used on rough terrain. In the 1960s, the founder’s son designed and built the first Zimmatic center pivot. It was an electric-drive system. It became famous as the “hillclimber” because it was the first pivot that could take on uneven terrain.

Eventually, an Iowa seed company, DeKalb, acquired Lindsay. Years later, Lindsay was spun off and went public.

Lindsay has produced more than 100,000 pivots, and those pivots irrigate 11 million acres worldwide. We have factories in France, Italy, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, and China, as well as a warehouse in Australia and a small company in New Zealand. We truly are a global company.

Kris Polly: What are some of the efficiencies and advantages of pivot irrigation?

Dirk Lenie: As you know, pivots can move in a circle or in a windshield wiper, half-circle pathway. The advantage of a pivot is that it can be fully automated. So, it is labor saving.

Low-energy precision application sprinklers provide a very efficient way to irrigate. Pivots can reach 95 percent efficiency, the same as a drip irrigation system. In addition to irrigation, you can run chemicals or fertilizer through the pivot, which results in less drift compared to spraying 24

with airplanes, as well as avoids soil compaction from field sprayers. It also results in reduced handling of the chemicals, which is safer for applicators.

Pivots come with a multitude of sensors. Lindsay has developed a remote monitoring and control system called FieldNET that enables a farmer to remotely monitor pivots from any smartphone or tablet. If there is a problem, FieldNET will send a text alert. In the past, if you owned multiple pivots or pivots were a certain distance away, the only way you would know if you did have a problem was go out in a truck and look at it.

FieldNET saves wear and tear on the truck, gasoline, and time for the grower. If it starts raining, you can automatically turn all your pivots off, which saves energy.

Most of the water used in the pivot is pumped, so when you waste water, you waste energy pumping water to the pivot.

Lindsay has invested in variable rate irrigation (VRI), which is the ability to turn individual or a bank of sprinklers on or off. What makes Lindsay’s precision VRI different from other companies is that it provides up to 30 percent more irrigated coverage. The product allows Irrigation Leader

FieldNET Pivot Control on a tablet.

you to define an infinite number of flexible areas, and there is no restriction on shape or size.

Kris Polly: What new technologies will Lindsay be bringing to the market?

Dirk Lenie: We believe that metering and paying for water is what is going to happen in the future. With droughts across the West, people are realizing that water is finite and that we have to use it more wisely. Within the last year, we have released a magnetic flow meter. We have also adapted FieldNET for microirrigation—so that, from a smartphone or tablet, you control and monitor the irrigation of a pivot or a micro or drip irrigation system.

Lindsay recently introduced FieldNET Pivot Control for electric pivots. It is a small computer controller that you put onto an existing pivot. With this control panel and a GPS unit, FieldNET can locally or remotely control Lindsay's NFTrax airless wheel assembly.

Irrigation Leader

25

the pivot. In the past, it would cost thousands of dollars to change out the controls on an old pivot. So you can get full control of an older pivot with the addition of a small panel—that is a big change for the retro market. There are a lot of pivots out there with mechanical panels that don’t provide as much precision irrigation as the computer panels. In addition, with the growth in rental land, you can upgrade a pivot on rented land and then when the lease is up, Pivot Control’s portability allows you to take it to another pivot.

We really believe in differentiating ourselves with technology. We put a lot of effort into it. It has also driven our acquisitions. [Irrigation Leader] has already spoken with Rick Reinders of Watertronics, a Lindsay acquisition—we have integrated pump stations with pivots through FieldNET. Lindsay offers the grower a complete package of solutions, whether drip or pivot. We provide soil moisture sensors, pumps, flow meters, and microclimate stations— all of which integrate into FieldNET. Kris Polly: What else do you see in the future for pivots and pivot irrigation?

Dirk Lenie: I think VRI will be a major trend in the future, with more and more growers utilizing that system as costs decrease over time. You will also see more sensors and diagnostics added to pivots.

Kris Polly: What is the biggest change in the industry since you have started?

Dirk Lenie: In pivot irrigation, I would say FieldNET.

For a long time, I felt that landscape irrigation was more advanced than agricultural irrigation. With FieldNET, Lindsay is employing technology as driven and automated as in landscape irrigation.

The other big thing I see in the United States is the continuing conversion of flood-irrigated lands into pivot-irrigated lands. According the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey, pivot-irrigated acres now outnumber floodirrigated acres.

Kris Polly: What should every farmer know about Lindsay?

Dirk Lenie: Lindsay embraces the latest technologies that shape irrigated agriculture, and Lindsay is committed to coming up with complete irrigation solutions for growers.

Kris Polly: What should every member of Congress know about Lindsay?

Dirk Lenie: Pivots are an extremely efficient way to irrigate crops. If Congress continues to fund the EQIP program [the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, through the Natural Resource Conservation Service], we will continue to see improvements in agricultural irrigation efficiencies, which leads to water and energy savings.

Irrigation will play a major role in helping feed a growing global population. As a result, Lindsay is committed to using its technology to help produce more and better crops while encouraging responsible stewardship of the world’s natural resources.

A Zimmatic pivot watering alfalfa.

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Irrigation Leader

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Water Law 28

Canal Maintenance and Operations After WOTUS

By Robert Johnson n Monday June 29, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the agencies) published the final rule on the definition of “waters of the United States” in the Federal Register.

The agencies will begin implementation of the rule on August 29, 2015, but have indicated that they do not expect implementation guidance to be ready by that date.

Throughout the rulemaking process, the National Water Resources Association (NWRA) has engaged the agencies and Congress with the insights, suggestions, and concerns of agricultural and municipal water providers and users. While some of our concerns were accommodated, many of those recommendations were not addressed in the final rule.

As a result, we have a rule and a regulatory landscape as uncertain as the one prior to its finalization.

Under the rule, a tributary contributes flow, directly or through another body, to a water body subject to commerce, an interstate water, or a territorial sea; has a bed and banks; and has an ordinary high-water mark.

“A tributary can be a natural, man-altered, or manmade water and includes waters such as rivers streams, canals, and ditches not excluded under paragraph (b) of this section.” In the rule preamble, the agencies state that they “have consistently regulated aqueducts and canals as ‘waters of the United States’ where they serve as tributaries, removing water from one part of the tributary network and moving it to another.”

Upon plain reading, this broad definition will include most, if not all, canals and aqueducts utilized by water providers throughout the country. The increased costs of increased permitting requirements for maintenance on those waterways—for example, under sections 402 and 404 of the CWA—will be borne by residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural water users.

The Treatment of Canals Under the Final Rule

Moving From Case-by-Case to De Facto Jurisdiction

Of particular concern to NWRA members is the treatment of canals and other water conveyances.

Canals serve as the highways of America’s water delivery infrastructure—an infrastructure in need of updating and rehabilitation. The assertion of categorical jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA) over canals has the potential to impede and raise the cost of conducting both routine and extraordinary maintenance.

The rule incorporates canals through its inclusion of tributaries as jurisdictional bodies.

Admittedly, canals were not wholly exempt from jurisdiction under the prior regulatory regime. In United States v. Vierstra, 803 F. Supp. 2d 1166 (D. Idaho 2011), the U.S. District Court determined that the Low Line Canal, as a man-made waterway flowing up to eight months a year, with an ordinary highwater mark, a bed, banks, and a connection to the Snake River via a perennial stream, was in fact jurisdictional for the purposes of the CWA. The court found the canal “is a ‘relatively permanent’ [ Justice Scalia’s test in Rapanos v. United States,

O

Irrigation Leader

547 U.S. 715 (2006)] tributary with a ‘signficiant nexus’ [ Justice Kennedy’s test] to navigable waters . . . [and] appropriately subject to federal jurisdiction.”

However, prior to the new rule, the agencies did address canals on a fact-specific basis—determining jurisdiction based on a significant nexus with a traditionally navigable water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 2007 Jurisdictional Determination Form Instructional Guidebook considered “certain geographical features (e.g., ditches, canals) that transport relatively permanent (continuous at least seasonally) flow directly or indirectly into [traditionally navigable waters] or between two (or more) waters of the U.S., including wetlands” as jurisdictional. While not ideal, this guidance had at least provided wiggle room for the Corps to consider a variety of practical factors (including the connection to an actual navigable water) in determining whether a canal or aqueduct was jurisdictional.

Next Steps

implementation of this rule and is also reaching out to congressional offices in an effort to build support for legislative relief. The NWRA supports current legislative efforts to redo the final rule. S.1140, the Federal Water Quality Protection Act, directs the agencies to consult with state and local water suppliers to redraft the proposed rule. The bill also sets forth principles governing nonjurisdictional features, including certain water collection and delivery infrastructure. This kind of common-sense approach to rule development is welcome and needed.

Bob Johnson is the executive vice president of the National Water Resources Association. He was the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation from 2006 to 2009. He can be reached at (202) 698-0693 or bjohnson@nwra.org.

The NWRA continues to secure meetings with the agencies and members of Congress regarding the

November 4-6, 2015 The Westin Denver Downtown Find details at www.nwra.org Irrigation Leader

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Family Farm

LLIANCE The Family

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Farm Alliance is a powerful advocate for family farmers, ranchers, irrigation

districts, and allied industries in seventeen Western states. The Alliance is focused on one mission To ensure the availability of reliable, affordable irrigation water supplies to Western farmers and ranchers.

As a 501(c)(6) tax exempt organization, our support comes exclusively from those who believe our mission is important enough to contribute. We believe the cause is important enough to ask for your support - Please join us by completing the web form at http://www.familyfarmalliance.org/ProspectiveContact.cfm.

For more information contact Dan Keppen by phone at (541) 892-6244, or by e-mail at dankeppen@charter.net

The Fair Water Users Coalition represents entities that rely on water supply contained in federally owned lakes and reservoirs operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The primary mission of the coalition is to ensure that water supply costs from federal facilities are fair, affordable, and predictable.

The coalition was able to include language in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (section 1046(b)) that requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide operation and maintenance projects plans and cost estimates to contracting entities for a five-year period. This new law will greatly enhance the ability of water supply users to budget for this expense.

Current Priorities • WRRDA implementation • U.S. Government Accountability Office study on water supply and congressional outreach • Uniformity of projects considered as “joint use” • Credit for beneficial projects/practices • Calculating water supply costs It is our goal to continue to grow and have members in all 25 states that have U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lakes and reservoirs with water supply storage.

Please feel free to contact Paul Kalchbrenner, the executive director of The Fair Water Users Coalition, to discuss your specific issues and answer any questions you have about the coalition.

Mr. Kalchbrenner can be reached at (202) 6641102 or pkalchbrenner@engage-dc.com.

The Innovators

Beehive Industries

S

ince 2011, Beehive Industries has been providing asset and infrastructure management software to state and local governments, resource districts, utilities, and the construction industry. Beehive software gives its clients the ability to track, manage, and document all the activities and events that affect their physical assets. The company has broken down those functions into several specific modules, which can be licensed together or separately.

Headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, Beehive’s client base now covers 21 states. Beehive has successfully applied its software platform beyond its original market of municipalities to irrigation and special-use districts, as well as to private industries in the Midwest. The company works with more than half of Nebraska’s Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) and several other similar organizations throughout the Midwest. The NRDs provide watershed-level management of the state’s rivers and natural resources, and according to Mike Schwab, product manager at Beehive Industries, the NRDs have been a great fit for Beehive’s asset management platform. Many of the NRDs have collected a mass of historical data but generally have no ability or useful application to effectively aggregate and distill the data into valuable information. This inability, coupled with staff shortages and minimal experience, makes it difficult to apply a solution with any consistency.

The Beehive team works with the NRDs to prioritize opportunities, collect and convert data, and deliver solutions that manage information essential to irrigation, conservation, and water districts, including the following: Static water levels—According to Mr. Schwab, users can record the water levels of a particular well as frequently as needed; generally, these times correlate closely with the start and stop of irrigation seasons. The Beehive software then aggregates the data and compares them against surface elevations.

Beehive enables users to produce site-specific or district-wide well hydrographs with a set of standard reports without having to aggregate that information manually and continuously customize inconsistent reports. The resulting hydrographs can be displayed as seasonal reports or year over year. Beehive also preformats all of the data for state-required water level reporting.

Flow meter management—Beehive works with the NRDs to help provide management for all the flow meters within the area. The two primary functions include water use recording and flow meter maintenance. Beehive provides a platform to record and document any maintenance request from meter owners, specifically for districts that provide flow meters to producers within their bounds. For example, if a producer notices a broken meter cover, he or

Beehive enables users to view all properties, activities, and events affecting assets with a few simple clicks.

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Irrigation Leader

she can quickly document the request in Beehive, and the work order is automatically generated and assigned for completion. The field staff can then document the completion of the work order, along with any supporting documentation, through the Beehive platform. Districts also have a solution to document water use via flow meter measurement. The meter information can be entered in a variety of ways: (1) physically reading the meter, (2) self-reporting, or (3) through an automated meter reading software and integrated into Beehive’s tools.

Once the data are in the system, Beehive provides the NRD with a real-time ability to query, map, and visually analyze the data to aid future water use decisions.

Water allocation—NRDs have adopted Beehive to use as a district-wide accounting system for water use. District managers can oversee water allocations directly within Beehive by using water level data, flow meter information, and any other irrigation management data sets together to assign allocations based on water use and other geologic and natural factors in a particular area. Mr. Schwab describes it as “one managed system where [managers] can access all that is going into their allocation database, generate reports, and also give producers feedback on how much water they have remaining in that particular growing season and across their entire allocation period.”

The Beehive platform ensures that there is one version of the truth for water allocation data and empowers NRD managers with powerful information to support more informed decisions and future operations.

Out of the Box and Online As a fully hosted SaaS solution, inclusive of native mobile applications for iOS and Android, the platform may be implemented out of the box, getting clients up and running quickly and with little or no capital expense.

It can adapt to address specific workflows or unique reporting requirements. The framework provides the users with simple, built-in query tools that allow for both property and event data to be leveraged for queries. This enables the user to have very granular access to the data without the need to be a master of relational database management software.

Seeing that most NRD customers manage their assets across larger, less populated, and less connected areas, the luxury of a reliable Internet connection does not always exist. Beehive can effortlessly accommodate these customers, as it works in both a connected and disconnected environment. When a connection is available, everything entered into the system is uploaded automatically. Where there is a limited or no connection, the data upload will create a queue or cache of the information, restarting and uploading automatically once a connection is established, to ensure that the district can operate from one up-to-date version of the truth.

Irrigation Leader nega7ng the d manually

Within Beehive, there is a baseline of data that includes aerials and other geospatial information from the districts GIS system or other available datasets, but the platform also has the capability to create and edit spatial data in a completely stand-alone environment.

So, according to Mr. Schwab, “If you don’t have a great inventory of your canals, but you do have high-resolution aerial photos, you could digitize canal data right on top of the aerial photos within the Beehive platform.” So as the user creates new information, he or she also helps to build the district’s GIS and infrastructure data.

Data-Driven Water Management Mike Schwab thinks that giving producers the ability to access or report their own data is going to become a standard practice in water management. “There is already an expectation to have real-time, online tracking and reporting data. We provide a platform that can enable producers to do just that. The service to the district’s producers is greatly improved and credited back to district leadership, while Beehive enables that same leadership and their teams to easily consume a wealth of information and focus on their priorities, policy initiatives, and operations, not on whether they have the right data.”

Beehive aggregates disparate data, negating the need for multiple data sources and manually built custom reports.

33

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CLASSIFIED LISTINGS Chief Deputy Water Master The U.S. Board of Water Commissioners is made up of six court-appointed commissioners, one from each of the divisions within the Walker River watershed. This board appoints a Chief Deputy Water Master, who serves at the pleasure of the board, and, with general guidance from the Water Master and board, administers the flows of the Walker River as set forth in the C-125 Decree for the 130,000+ water right acres in California and Nevada including the Walker River Irrigation District, the Walker River Paiute Tribe and others.

The job entails all duties set forth in the C-125 Decree and the 1953 Rules and Regulations for the Distribution of Water of the Walker River, including: Preparation of yearly budget and plan for the equitable distribution of water for each irrigation season; setting and collecting of yearly assessments of water right acreage; updating and maintaining of water right records and water usage records; supervision of one office manager, 4 parttime river riders and 7-10 ditch riders; overseeing of water ordering and delivery schedules; regulating system reservoirs in conjunction with reservoir owners; determining decree priorities to be served according to river flow; accessing and analyzing weather and flow data; assessing snowpack to determine expected runoff and water availability; working with local, state and federal agencies; assisting legal counsel in preparation of documents for on-going lawsuits; keeping board members and federal judge informed; mediating disputes between water rights owners; communicating with press regarding general operations and incidents; inspecting diversions to assure adherence to Decree; monitoring condition of river banks, tributaries and diversions structures and informing owners or responsible parties of needed repairs; maintain vehicles and other U.S. Board equipment; interacting and corresponding with members of the public regarding water rights.

Requirements: Two to five years of experience and/or education in water management recommended but not required.

Candidate must possess the ability to: Advance to the position of Chief Deputy Water Commissioner/ Water Master by November 1, 2015. Communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing; operate a computer, including word processing, spreadsheet and internet functions; legally drive on highways and in adverse off-road conditions; maintain excellent working relationships with staff and other entities’ personnel; hike various distances in difficult terrain; perform physical labor requiring moderate exertion; interpret and act upon board actions; understand and comply with California and Nevada water law; read and comprehend technical manuals and data.

Salary Range: Negotiable based on experience.

Benefits: Employer-paid health, dental and vision insurance for employee; family insurance available at employee’s expense, paid annual and sick leave, employer contribution to retirement account, Vehicle provided for work-related travel.

Applications can be requested and resumes e-mailed to walkerusbwc@aim.com or by mail to: US Board of Water Commissioners 410 N Main Street, Yerington, NV 89447 36

Associate or Senior Water Resources/Agricultural Engineer Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group is an employee owned company with seven offices covering California’s Central Valley. We are adding to the engineering staff in most of our offices.

To be considered for the position, candidates must demonstrate they are willing and able to be part of a dedicated team of engineering professionals who specialize in serving agricultural entities and irrigation districts throughout California’s Central Valley and beyond. Candidates must show an understanding of water resources engineering and be able to apply their knowledge in a practical manner.

We expect serious candidates to have a thorough understanding, interest and broad experience in areas such as: Irrigation District Operations • • • • • •

System Modernization Groundwater Management, Recharge and Banking Environmental Compliance Issues • Project Funding Water Transfers and Exchanges • Water Rights Developing Feasibility Studies • Project Planning and Design Public Works Construction Contracts

This position will actively pursue and lead projects on ag/water related client issues and requests. Duties will involve project planning, engineering consulting and design, client contact and project management.

Requirements: Must hold an active CA PE license or licensed in another state and be willing to sit for CA license within 18 months of hire; 5+ years experience leading and directing work teams in studies, investigations, and designs bringing positive results. Demonstrated business development success and project management experience required. Experience with irrigation districts and knowledge of California water rights and water systems preferred. Occasional field work and overnight travel are required.

Visit our website at www.ppeng.com to learn more about us. If interested, please submit your resume to hr@ppeng.com.

Provost & Pritchard Consulting Group is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. We offer a comprehensive, competitive compensation package. Level and salary of position will be commensurate with experience of selected candidate.

Manager Heart Mountain Irrigation District is seeking a full time Manager.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, day to day operations of the District, leadership of our small, but dedicated staff in delivery of water to landowners, maintenance and upkeep of the District.

Knowledge of agriculture, irrigation, computer programs and basic construction are helpful. Candidates will have the ability to create and implement a yearly budget. Have a good working relationship with staff, commissioners, landowners, and local, state and federal employees.

Heart Mountain Irrigation District is a Bureau of Reclamation project located in the beautiful Big Horn Basin of Wyoming providing irrigation water to 31,000+ acres. HMID is an equal opportunity employer.

Please send resumes/references to Heart Mountain Irrigation District, 1206 Road 18, Powell WY 82435. Questions can be directed to Gary Kellogg at 307-754-4685.

Irrigation Leader

CLASSIFIED LISTINGS KENNEWICK IRRIGATION DISTRICT COMPTROLLER/TREASURER REPORTS TO: District Manager and

Board of Directors DATE: June 2015 STATUS: Exempt/Non-Bargaining GENERAL SUMMARY: The Comptroller/Treasurer position is the department head for the Finance Department, which includes the financial and accounting division, information technology, and customer service.

This position consists of two distinct but complementary roles. The Comptroller is an employee of the District, hired by the District Manager, subject to the direction and control of the District Manager, and subject to termination of employment at the discretion of the District Manager. The Treasurer, who makes certain statutorily required reports to the Board of Directors, is an officer of the District, appointed by the Board of Directors, and subject to removal at the discretion of the Board of Directors. The Treasurer role is unpaid because the District is of the belief that the overwhelming majority of time and effort is expended in the Comptroller role, which enables the Treasurer to make his or her required reports to the Board.

The Comptroller performs duties in maintaining the central accounting function to include payroll, accounts payable and receivable, general ledger, banking and investment activities, cashiering, and works with the Board, staff, customers, vendors, contractors, state and federal agencies, banks, mortgage companies, and other financial entities as needed and as directed by the District Manager.

The Treasurer attends Board meetings as an ex-officio (non-voting) Board member and fulfils the statutory duties of the District Treasurer.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES: COMPTROLLER: 1. Prepares the District-wide financial statements to ensure compliance with Washington State Budget, Accounting, and Reporting standards as well as GASB pronouncements applicable to a cash-basis governmental entity.

2. Provides financial information required by the Washington State Auditor’s office as outlined in the state BARS manual and manages the audit process.

3. Develops and oversees internal controls and accounting policies and procedures that ensure public governmental accounting and legal compliance.

4. Develops, maintains, and tests for compliance the necessary procedures for internal controls, customer information management, procurement, billing and federal grant cost reporting.

5. Leads and directly supervises Finance Department personnel including the Customer Accounts Supervisor and accounting staff members as well as the in-house Information Technology and Purchasing Specialist with the goal of efficiently serving the mission and other departments of the District.

6. Provides guidance and coordination to assist the District Manager in preparing the annual comprehensive budget of the District.

7. Provides controls and oversight to ensure that financial reporting prepared by others in the department is accurate and timely and reconciled to external source data, such as bank statements.

8. Participates in the Risk Management team performing duties like oversight of claims handling, review of contracts, and insurance documents.

Irrigation Leader

9. Serves as a member of senior management participating in strategic planning efforts, and addressing District-wide policy and personnel issues.

10. Assist other departments in accounting matters, such as rate support, grants, contract administration related to accounting procedures, etc.

11. Keeps informed of new trends, developments, laws, and regulations impacting the activities of the District, with emphasis on the financial, procurement and grant compliance management.

12. Completes special projects as needed, such as revenue or cost studies, cost projections for financing, etc.

13. Exercises good business judgment, strong ethics, and innovative problem solving in reviewing KID investments, realty and departmental financial activities 14. Prepares financial plans in concert with KID extended forecast of capital improvement program.

15. Responsible for preparation of required Washington State and Federal reports, including, but not limited to, tax, unemployment, census, and Labor and Industries forms.

16. Performs other duties as requested by the District Manager or the Board of Directors.

TREASURER: 1. The Treasurer fulfills the duties required of Treasurers by RCW 87.03 and other applicable statutes and regulations of the State of Washington 2. Oversees and assists in the KID foreclosure and bankruptcy processes per state law.

3. Communicates complex financial matters in written and verbal form to non-financial expert board members, the public, and the KID staff.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: • Four-year college degree in Accounting, Finance or closely related field.

• CPA or Certified Public Finance Officer or equivalent experience • Five to ten years accounting experience in similar-sized or larger organization.

• Has experience and demonstrated success in personnel management functions.

• Knowledgeable of accounting and control requirements for municipalities, irrigation districts or other quasi-municipal entities and/or equivalent demonstrated experience in the private sector.

• Accounting methods and principals in a municipal setting, to include Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

• Demonstrated experience in cash basis accounting.

• Demonstrated understanding of the accounting/finance functions as an integral part of the overall operations and mission of the entity.

• Knowledge of Washington State requirements for auditing and record keeping for public agencies.

BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCE: Candidate must have a demonstrated proficiency in verbal and written communications. The ideal incumbent will have the ability to present the risks of proposed options, supported by details and experience, in a manner that supports good decision-making. Candidate must maintain composure under stress, prioritize and delegate to meet schedules, represent the KID in a professional and ethical manner, and interact with the Board, other KID employees, and the public with a professional demeanor.

Approved June 29, 2015 Charles Freeman, District Manager

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2015 CALENDAR

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North Dakota Water Resource Districts Association, Annual Summer Meeting, Bismarck, ND ESRI, User Conference, San Diego, CA National Water Resources Association, Western Water Seminar, Hyatt Regency Monterey, Monterey, CA Kansas Water Congress, Summer Conference, Lawrence, KS Four States Irrigation Council, Summer Tour, Casper, WY Colorado Water Congress, Summer Conference, Vail, CO Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts, Groundwater Summit, San Marcos, TX Texas Desalination Association, Texas Desal 2015, Austin, TX Texas Water Conservation Association, Fall Meeting, San Antonio, TX Columbia Basin Development League, Conference and Annual Meeting, Moses Lake, WA Utah Water Users Association, Utah Water Summit Conference, Provo, UT WESTCAS, Fall Conference, Tucson, AZ National Water Resources Association, Annual Conference, Denver, CO Idaho Water Users Association, 32nd Annual Water Law Seminar, Boise, ID Nebraska Water Resources Association & Nebraska State Irrigation Association, Joint Convention, Kearney, NE Association of California Water Agencies, Fall Conference & Exhibition, Indian Wells, CA North Dakota Joint Water Convention & Irrigation Workshop, Bismarck, ND

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