THE FRIANT UNIT OF THE CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT

The following is a general description of the Friant Unit of the Central Valley Project. This information is intended as a useful reference to provide the reader with some basic information regarding the physical characteristics of this project, the ongoing needs of the area it serves and the tremendous benefits being generated as a result of it.

FRIANT UNIT SERVICE AREA AND MAJOR FEATURES

The Friant Unit of the Central Valley Project delivers water to over one million acres of irrigable farm land on the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley from approximately Chowchilla on the north to the Tehachapi Mountains on the south. The principal features of the Friant Unit begin with the San Joaquin River at Millerton Reservoir, (Friant Dam), located northeast of Fresno. Out of Millerton Reservoir water is distributed to contracting irrigation and water districts and local cities by way of the Friant-Kern Canal, that goes to the south, and the Madera Canal, that goes to the north.

The majority of the water rights to the San Joaquin River allowing for the diversion of water at Friant Dam were obtained by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation through purchase and exchange agreements with the individuals and entities that held those rights at the time the project was developed. The single largest of these agreements requires annual delivery of 800,000 acre feet of water to the central San Joaquin Valley near Mendota. Thus the Friant Unit is dependent upon other features of the Central Valley Project, including Shasta Dam, the Tracy Pumping Plant and the Delta-Mendota Canal, to facilitate this required exchange.

In 1975 the locally financed Cross Valley Canal was completed, bringing water from the California aqueduct through a series of six pump lifts to the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley near the City of Bakersfield. A complex series of water purchase, transport and exchange agreements allows for the exchange of equivalent amounts of water between Arvin-Edison Water Storage District (a long term Friant Unit contractor) and eight entities that contract for water with the United States out of Shasta Dam and Reservoir. The water released from Shasta down the Sacramento River is picked up out of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and transported down the California Aqueduct to the Cross Valley Canal. It is then delivered to Arvin-Edison Water Storage District in exchange for a portion of their water supply available from Millerton Reservoir. This exchange is capable of bringing an additional 128,300 acre feet annually into the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley.

Additionally, there are other significant storage facilities on the San Joaquin River that are owned and operated by the Southern California Edison Company and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. These other facilities, while being operated for the production of electrical energy, do have an effect on the flow of water into Millerton Reservoir and subsequently the quantity and timing of water available to the Friant Unit water contractors. There also exist a number of local streams that have flood control and conservation features that provide a significant amount of water to this same general area.

FRIANT UNIT OPERATIONS

The Friant Unit of the Central Valley Project was established incorporating the concept of conjunctive use of the groundwater reservoir which underlies a major part of its service area. This groundwater reservoir is estimated to hold 20 million acre feet of water. The Friant Unit employs a two class system of water allocation. Class 1 water is the firm supply amounting to the first 800,000 acre feet of yield from the San Joaquin River and Millerton Reservoir. Class 2 water develops only after the Class 1 allotment has been fully met. Class 1 water is typically under contract to those districts that serve areas that have limited or no access to good quality groundwater. These areas generally are the upslope areas planted to citrus or deciduous fruit. Class 2 water is typically under contract to those districts that have access to good ground water supplies and can accept reoccurring deficiencies and alternately use their groundwater and wells as their principal source of supply. These areas also have tremendous recharge capability - both natural and manmade.

The volatility of the water supply available out of the San Joaquin River and the Friant Unit of the Central Valley Project has been most recently demonstrated by the highest and lowest runoff years of record - the lowest being 1977 which yielded a total of slightly over 360,000 acre feet and the highest year of record 1982 which yielded over 4,640,000 acre feet. This wide variability of runoff is typical in streams on the western slope of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. Therefore, the need to re-regulate the peaks and valley of the water supply by way of surface and subsurface storage is of great importance. The need for additional surface storage on the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley is well documented.

The San Joaquin River has an average annual runoff of 1,861,000 acre feet. Millerton Reservoir has a total storage capacity of 520,500 acre feet. Millerton Reservoir, as a multi-purpose facility also serving a flood control function, requires evacuation of a large portion of the storage space prior to the winter rainy season. With Millerton Reservoir being so small, compared to the potential runoff on the San Joaquin River, it is necessary to pull the reservoir down to its minimum pool annually in order to make effective use of the storage space that is available. Thus, there is very little opportunity to carry over water from one season to another.

In addition to the Class 1, Class 2 and conjunctive use aspects of the Friant Unit operation, a very effective program of transfers between districts takes place annually. This program provides sound water management that permits the maximum beneficial use of the water supply available from the San Joaquin River. In wet years the water surplus to a district's needs is transferred to those districts that have the ability to store water in the underground and conversely in dry years water is returned to those districts that have little or no groundwater supply, thus providing an ongoing groundwater banking program.

FRIANT UNIT WATER NEEDS

A serious and well recognized problem of groundwater overdraft exists in the southern San Joaquin Valley. The service area of the proposed Mid-Valley Canal is larger and encompasses all of the Friant Unit service area. In a report prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources entitled, "A Report on the Mid-Valley Canal Feasibility Investigation", dated January, 1981, it was concluded that a replacement water supply for the Mid-Valley Canal general service area was urgently needed and that "the present annual groundwater overdraft of over 1,000,000 acre feet forecasts the abandonment of over 440,000 acres of highly productive irrigated agricultural land within the foreseeable future, unless a replacement supply can be imported". Several members of the Friant Water Users Authority are also members of the Mid-Valley Water Authority. They are researching all possible solutions in an effort to balance their supply against the existing demand, including the construction of the proposed Mid-Valley Canal and additional east side and west side storage facilities.

Water conservation has been touted, by those who do not understand the Friant Unit operations, as a primary solution to the water needs of the area. As is noted in Table 6, the on-farm irrigation efficiency is very high, exceeding 77 percent. Technical experts agree that an irrigation efficiency of 80 percent is a very difficult and generally an unrealistic goal to achieve. Thus, the true water savings to be generated by conservation is negligible at best. It is also important to note that because of the conjunctive use aspect of the Friant Unit operations, deep percolation losses are not lost from the system in that they return to a useable groundwater source. Still the irrigation efficiencies meet or exceed those found anywhere in the state or the nation. Our farmers and our districts have some of the most sophisticated and efficient irrigation systems in the world and practice water conservation on a daily basis. The Friant Unit districts maintain water conservation plans on file with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. This area has been a showcase of advance irrigation technology and will continue to lead in the practical application of this technology.

In 1986, the San Joaquin River and the Kings River collectively spilled well over 2 million acre feet of water as flood flows down the San Joaquin River to the bay and ocean. Our greatest potential for water conservation rests with the construction of additional surface and sub-surface water storage facilities to capture some of this otherwise lost supply.

BENEFITS OF THE FRIANT UNIT

The initial investment allocated to irrigation by the federal government for the construction of the Friant Unit of the Central Valley including a portion of the construction costs of Shasta Dam, Tracy Pumping Plant and the Delta Mendota Canal required to meet the exchange commitments necessary to satisfy existing water rights allowing for the diversion of water at Friant Dam, was approximately $180 million.

This initial investment was the key to making this area the most productive agricultural area in the world. Fresno, Tulare and Kern Counties constantly vie for the top three agricultural producing counties in the nation. Gross agricultural production in the area represented by the Friant Unit long term contractors was approximately $2 billion in 1985. It is estimated that approximately two-thirds of the crop production value in the area represented by the Friant Unit long term contractors would not be there if the project did not exist. Therefore, the water under contract to the Friant Unit long term contractors was directly responsible for producing over $1.3 billion in 1985. These figures do not include the value of the dairy products produced by tremendously expanding dairy industry in this area. They also do not include the multiplier effect of the agricultural production as it moves from field to the market place. This is generally estimated to be three to four times the gross agricultural production value.

The initial investment of the federal government is being repaid by the agricultural water users and is included in the price of the water. Thus the only "subsidy" being provided to the agricultural water users is in interest that would otherwise have been earned by the federal government on their initial investment. The return to the economy and the national treasury generated by the $1.3 billion annual agricultural production far outweighs any real or perceived interest subsidy on the initial $180 million investment.

The average operating farm size in the Friant Unit is estimated to be only 63 acres. It should further be noted that actual landownership is typically many more in number than is reflected by the number of farming entities.

Nearly all of the domestic, municipal and industrial water for the communities on the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley is obtained through the pumping of groundwater. The benefits of water being brought into this area as a result of the Friant Unit in helping to maintain a dependable and good quality groundwater reservoir will become greater as this area grows and diversifies.