Jason Phillips of the Friant Water Authority: Tackling Drought, Subsidence, and Regulatory Issues
The excavation area for the new Deer Creek siphon and check structure, with crews backfilling the overexcavated areas of the new canal next to the existing Friant-Kern Canal.
T
he Friant Division of the Central Valley Project (CVP) includes Friant Dam and Millerton Lake, the Madera Canal, and the Friant-Kern Canal, which collectively store and deliver water to more than a million acres of farmland and several cities on the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley. The Friant Water Authority, a public agency representing a majority of the Friant Division’s water users, operates and maintains the Friant-Kern Canal, which supplies San Joaquin River water stored at Millerton Lake to more than 30 irrigation districts that serve 15,000 family farms. Irrigation Leader spoke with Friant Water Authority CEO Jason Phillips about how the organization is dealing with drought, land subsidence, and regulatory issues.
Jason Phillips: I have been the CEO of the Friant Water Authority for just over 6 years. Before this, I spent 15 years with the Bureau of Reclamation’s Sacramento office in what is now called the California–Great Basin Region. Its territory stretched as far north as the Klamath basin and went down through California’s Central Valley to Kern County and included all the Reclamation projects within
28 | IRRIGATION LEADER | June 2022
Irrigation Leader: Please introduce the Friant Water Authority. Jason Phillips: About half a dozen water users formed the Friant Water Users Authority roughly 70 years ago, although our original name was slightly different. At the time, Reclamation was completing Friant Dam and the FriantKern and Madera Canals and was negotiating its first water contracts. The water authority negotiated the Friant Division water contracts. Today, it serves about 32 contractors. In 1986, Friant Water Users Authority, our predecessor organization, began operating the 152‑mile Friant-Kern Canal on behalf of the federal government. We recently renegotiated that work contract, so we’ll be operating the canal under the new agreement for the next 35 years. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF FRIANT WATER AUTHORITY.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
that footprint. I had a variety of responsibilities, ranging from serving as a project manager in the planning division and as an area manager at the Klamath Project to helping to address the drainage issue on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side. I was the program manager for the San Joaquin River Restoration Program and finished my time at Reclamation as the deputy regional director in Sacramento.
