Agenda Item Wording:
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Presentation of the McKay Point project, a joint effort between Tulare Irrigation District and Consolidated Peoples Ditch Company, that has potential benefits for Visalia.
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Deadline for Action: None
Submitting Department: Administration
Contact Name and Phone Number: Rhett Anderson, (559) 713-4530
Department Recommendation:
N/A
Background Discussion:
In recent years, residents of California have experienced severe alternating wet and dry periods that are characteristic of the western United States. Although alternating wet and dry years are not new to the west, the severity of these cycles has amplified, especially in dry years.
Water managers in California have had to learn to mitigate effects of remarkably dry years, like that of water year 2021, which saw the lowest amount of rainfall in Tulare County in all recorded history at 8.12 inches of precipitation. Inversely, just four years prior in water year 2017, Tulare County received four times that amount at 32.9 inches of precipitation.
By the utilization of retention basins, water resources can flow through conveyance systems at lower velocities and extend the amount of time in a year that water can be delivered, thus extending the irrigation seasons for surrounding agriculture. The McKay Point project (Project), a ~260-acre reservoir/retention basin, is a planned project lead by Tulare Irrigation District (TID) and the Consolidated Peoples Ditch Company. The Project is located at the fork of the Kaweah and St. Johns rivers, where it can siphon off as much as 8,000 acre-feet (AF) during peak flows out of Kaweah Lake, also removing a number of acres from within Visalia city limits out of the 100-year floodplain, and potentially reducing the flood insurance requirements for some residents.
The City of Visalia retroactively approved the issuance of a Letter of Support for TID on December 6, 2021. Construction is planned to begin in April of 2022, shortly after the cur...
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