Fresno Irrigation District

Area: 250,000 acres in Fresno County
Formed in 1920
Mission: Serving District users with high quality surface water while protecting and enhancing the underground water supply.

The Fresno Irrigation District comprises some 250,000 acres, entirely within Fresno County, and includes the Fresno-Clovis Metropolitan area. The District is the largest of the 28 entities which share in waters from the Pine Flat Reservoir, fed by the Kings River. The Pine Flat Dam was completed in 1954 as a flood control and water conservation unit by the US Corps of Engineers.

The District contracts for 12% of the one-million acre foot capacity of the Pine Flat facility. However, FID is entitled to about 26% of the average runoff of the Kings River and much of its entitlement occurs when the water can be used directly for irrigation or recharge without the need for regulation at Pine Flat.

While many of the canals in the FID system date back to the turn of the century, the District uses computerized systems and modern telemetry to control water flows and a communications network speeds reaction to operating problems throughout the sprawling District.

The public District was formed in 1920 under the California Irrigation Districts Act, purchasing from the old Fresno Canal and Land Company, canals, distribution works and extensive water rights on the Kings River. The Purchase price was $1.75 million.

In more than three-quarters of a century the District has delivered nearly 33 million acre feet of surface water to farmers and urban users, enough to fill the massive Pine Flat Reservoir 33 times.

On average, FID delivers about 550,000 acre feet of surface water, mostly to agricultural users, while an increasing share is diverted to groundwater recharge in the urban areas, which currently pump their supplies from the underground reservoir.

Excess water applied by farmers percolates beyond the crops' root zone and recharges the extensive aquifer beneath the District, estimated to contain 5.8 million acre feet. Some 85 to 90% of the groundwater supply is attributed to percolation of surface water distributed by the District, including water delivered to urban recharge basins.

In addition to its entitlement from the Kings, the District and the City of Fresno have contracted to purchase up to 135,000 acre feet annually from the Friant Division of the Central Valley Project: The City allocation is a firm 60,000 acre feet annually, while FID's contract is for 75,000 acre feet of "Class II" water, available only in "wet" years. The Class II water is spread for percolation to improve the underground supply.

That recharge also is being boosted by a joint FID-City of Fresno Project to correct the overdraft of the underground supply, much of which is centered in the urban area. Through a 20 year, $5 million low-interest loan, increased recharge is being effected by piping canals which will feed nine flood control basins. By selectively directing recharge of this high quality water, the City can better manage supplies and corral contaminants such as DBCP. FID is also adding large basins southwest of Fresno to help correct the overdraft.

The District is governed by a five-person publicly elected board, representing each of FID's geographical divisions. Gary Serrato is the Fresno Irrigation District General Manager.

Fresno Irrigation District Timeline