TID extends Don Pedro joint operating agreement as relicensing and upgrades continue

TID extends Don Pedro joint operating agreement as relicensing and upgrades continueThe Turlock Irrigation District has approved a three-year extension of its operational pact with the Modesto Irrigation District, delaying a comprehensive overhaul of the 1990 agreement until federal relicensing and life-extension projects at the reservoir are finalized.

The board unanimously approved a resolution extending the agreement, which governs dam operations and flood control at the Don Pedro Project.

The extension is required because Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing and the Don Pedro upgrade and life extension projects are still ongoing.

The delay prevents the need to rewrite the 80-page agreement while equipment changes and river flow schedules remain uncertain.

Operationally, TID is currently navigating a five-to-seven-week early snowmelt runoff, holding nearly 90,000 acre-feet of encroached flood control space with Army Corps approval.

The Turlock Irrigation District (TID) Board of Directors unanimously approved a third amendment to the Don Pedro Project Operating Agreement on April 14, granting a three-year extension to the district's joint operational pact with the Modesto Irrigation District (MID). The agreement, originally authorized in 1990, governs all non-recreational operations at the Don Pedro Reservoir, including dam operations, the powerhouse, and flood control processes. The agreement was previously extended in 2016 and 2021 as the districts awaited the finalization of their Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license, which originally expired in 2016. Staff member Tim Payne told the board the three-year extension is necessary to allow ongoing major initiatives to conclude before undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of the nearly 80-page agreement. "Relicensing is still not final. The Don Pedro upgrade and life extension is ongoing, and we're early in discussions about how EDAM may or may not affect Don Pedro operations," Payne said. District leadership noted that rewriting the agreement now would be premature. "There's a lot of cleanup and some substantial changes in how we operate. It just doesn't feel like it's the right time to do it now when we're changing equipment. We don't know our flow schedule in the river because of the license," one speaker noted, adding that MID's board was passing a parallel resolution the same day. The operational extension comes as TID actively manages highly abnormal hydrology at the reservoir. During a hydrology update, staff reported a five-to-seven-week early shift in snowmelt timing compared to historic averages. To prevent the loss of water supply, TID is currently operating the reservoir at an elevation of 809.5 feet—nearly 90,000 acre-feet encroached into the standard flood control space of 801.9 feet. This deviation is being managed with the explicit concurrence of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, allowing the district to retain early snowmelt rather than making required flood control releases. Simultaneously, the district is preparing to execute a mandated spring outmigration pulse flow for fall-run Chinook salmon. Operating under a median critical water year type, TID will release 20,091 acre-feet of water, peaking at 1,350 cubic feet per second on April 25, to meet environmental requirements under its current FERC license.