(gentle music) - My grandparents started farming in Kerman over 100 years ago.

So for the last 100 years, we've farmed in the Kerman and Easton area.

So we're privileged that we've been with FID since its existence in the Kerman area, and 50 plus years here.

- Those of us who are landowners in the Fresno Irrigation District are extremely fortunate in that our forebears were able to negotiate the lion's share of the Kings River to come into Fresno.

And with that surface water, it makes our land so much more valuable and sustainable than any other land in the Central Valley.

(gentle music) - I think Fresno Irrigation District is unique amongst water agencies.

There may be irrigation districts that serve more acres of farmland than FID.

There may be water agencies that serve more urban users than FID.

But I think you'd be hard-pressed to find one that serves as many productive growers and as many urban users as Fresno Irrigation District does.

- We've had employees here, some that have been here 20 years, 30 years, 40 years.

They know the district like the back of their hand.

And we're losing them because they're retiring out.

So our job now is to train the next generation of employees, and we're investing in that.

- For 100 years, FID has been fulfilling its mission, which is essentially to protect and manage the surface and groundwater supplies for the present and future needs within the district.

(gentle music) (water rushes) - [Announcer] Production funding for "American Grown: My Job Depends on Ag" provided by James G. Parker Insurance Associates, insuring and protecting agribusiness for over 40 years, by GAR Bennett, the growing experts in water, irrigation, nutrition, and crop care advice and products, we help growers feed the world, by Golden State Farm Credit, building relationships with rural America by providing ag financial services, by Brandt Professional Agriculture, proudly supporting the heroes that work hard to feed a hungry world every day, by unWired Broadband, today's internet for rural Central California, keeping Valley agriculture connected since 2003, by Hodges Electric, proudly serving the Central Valley since 1979, and by Valley Air Conditioning and Repair, family-owned for over 50 years, proudly featuring Coleman products, dedicated to supporting agriculture, and the families that grow our nation's food.

(light music) (tractor motors whir) (water rushes) - Well, it's been 100 years since the Fresno Irrigation District was established in 1920, but it's not as well-known that actually it's been 150 years, the sesquicentennial occasion, since the irrigation history in the Fresno area began.

That was in 1870, and right out here where the Fresno Canal headgate is now is where construction began in 1870 on the Fresno Canal, which was the first canal to bring water into the Fresno area, and was responsible for so much of the development in what is now Fresno, as well as Clovis.

- Oh, when you had to go back to the early days, you got to go back to the beginning of California, the 1850s, and water rights were really acquired by first, before statehood, there was riparian rights.

The people who were using the water, like the 49ers, had the first rights to them, and then as people started using the water, they became appropriative, which means they appropriated the use of that water.

Pretty soon, the legislature realized they had to enact legislation that allowed those people that were first using the water to have the first rights to the water.

And so, there was basically, you had to prove that you were here first using the water, and that's how water rights got started in California.

- The Fresno Canal was constructed starting in 1870.

The builder was Moses J.

Church, and he was associated with one of the first farmers in the area, a man named A.Y.

Easterby.

Easterby was convinced that he could grow wheat on the land, but if he didn't have any water, the wheat wouldn't grow very well.

And so, he hired Moses Church to build a canal to bring water, and so, they did.

And that's why the Fresno Canal was built.

Well, by 1871, that summer the canal was finished, and bringing water to the Easterby farm, which was located on the eastern side of where Downtown Fresno is today.

And Easterby had a lot of land out there, and a lot of wheat, a lot of beautiful young wheat started growing when it was irrigated in the fall of 1871.

And that November, the general manager and president of the railroad, Leland Stanford, the general manager was in town, and the railroad hadn't been built yet.

That was the Central Pacific Railroad Company, but it was being built down the San Joaquin Valley, and they were looking for a place to locate the railroad.

In fact, they'd already pretty well decided on the route, and they'd pretty well decided there'd be a major town built right at the San Joaquin River were Herndon is today.

But when they got down here, they toured the Easterby wheat farm, and saw this beautiful, beautiful wheat field, and everything around it was parched and dry.

And instantly, Stanford realized how important irrigation would be, what it would mean to the land to bring water to this thirsty land.

And so, he ordered a town be built nearby on the route of the railroad, and the following spring, following May of 1872, the railroad reached this area, and Fresno was established right down by Mariposa Street and the railroad, where the old Southern Pacific station is to this very day.

And so, the railroad was responsible for Fresno, but really it was the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Company's Fresno Canal that was most responsible, because it brought the water that brought the land to life.

- The riparian rights were actually severed from the river.

The predecessor to the Fresno Irrigation District went down and bought a lot of land downstream on the Kings River that had historically had some riparian rights, and they transferred all those water rights up to the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Company, and they were the predecessors to FID.

In 1920, the legislature in California enacted legislation that allowed for the creation of irrigation districts.

We're 100 years old today, because in 18, or in 1920, when the irrigation district law was passed, Fresno Irrigation District was formed, and they then bought from the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Company all of the water rights that that old company had acquired over time.

And what you have today is the public agency known as the Fresno Irrigation District having acquired all those water rights, riparian, and appropriative rights from the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Company.

(light music) - Fresno Irrigation District still relies on water supplies, principally from the Kings River, Pine Flat Dam, but also there's a Class 2 allocation from Friant, and those dams have been around a very long time, and those same amounts of water have been with us for a very long time.

The district has been nimble about figuring out how to exchange water, so that water is here at the right time.

That's the biggest problem is water all comes at the wrong time, and you can't use it, and it goes out to the ocean.

So what we really have to do is learn how to store it, and something that is a relatively new idea, not really, farmers have known how to do this for generations, storing water in the ground.

(gentle music) - Just as important as the surface water supplies, there's a reason why our groundwater supply and the aquifer is so plentiful below us.

We divert over 500,000 acre-feet on average, so that's roughly the size of Millerton Lake, into the Fresno Irrigation District every year.

And while the groundwater levels have slowly declined over time, in general, they've held up over time, and has allowed the farming areas to flourish, just north of Sanger, out to Kerman and the Easton areas, and also the cities of Fresno and Clovis, and the smaller communities around it, have allowed those areas to flourish.

And if not for our forefathers with what they put together over 100 years ago, this area would not be what it is today.

- You know, water is really what allowed the San Joaquin Valley Desert to bloom.

We are in the midst of a desert.

On average, we receive less than 11 inches of rain a year, but it is because of that Sierra Nevada snowpack, and these incredible networks of dams and canals that has allowed us to convey water down here to grow these incredible crops that we grow here that we're known so well worldwide for.

And so, when we talk about the Fresno Irrigation District, we're kind of the epicenter of that.

The way that we're able to take, you know, not just from the Kings River, but from the San Joaquin River, these two very important river systems, and supply water to the most productive farmers in the world is something that I find a really unique endeavor as I serve on the board of directors.

So the system that we have here is we have these micro-misters that literally just fan the water out and cover the whole root zone of these almond trees here.

It's a very efficient use of water.

We're able to take this water, and we keep it within the root zone.

And you know, it really has increased our crop per drop for these trees here.

But over here, we have obviously the open row, and this open row is what we're able to utilize during flood years.

We're able to take excess flows.

We're able to turn on the valves, and run water down these rows, and literally just let it sink down.

This, as you could see, this soil is extraordinarily sandy, and it's incredible, agriculturally speaking.

It does wonders when it comes to these trees and vines, but when it comes to being able to recharge the groundwater aquifer, this soil does amazing things.

- You have to be somewhat strange to say that you enjoy paying taxes.

But if I had one tax that I enjoy paying it's FID.

I believe the communities, I believe the farmers, everybody gets a real benefit from FID.

- FID's leadership has always had at their origin the protection and management of our surface water and groundwater resources, and that includes things like recharge, monitoring the water level, making sure that we have our finger on the pulse in terms of what's happening with the aquifer, and then planning projects accordingly, whether that's a recharge basin, or a banking facility.

(light music) (gentle classical music) - So this is the sloping crew, and what they do is they take the silts and the dirt that's built up in the bottom of the canal over the last irrigation system, and we try to get it back up on the sides of the banks.

It helps the water flow better.

So there's pipelines at the end of our open canals, and it helps keep the debris out of the pipelines also.

(gentle classical music) - FID's main canal systems are about 150 years old, and were constructed primarily in the late 1800s with newer systems after the turn of the century.

We have about 310 miles of open canal, and about 360 miles of pipelines.

Of our pipelines, about half are cast-in-place pipeline, and a majority of them, of our pipelines are 40 years or older.

Many of our pipelines have reached the end of their useful life, and require extensive repairs, or replacements.

So we prioritize our maintenance crews during our off-season to focus on pipeline repairs, and the district also tries to fund pipeline replacements each year, if it's feasible.

(gentle classical music) FID gets most of its water off the Kings River, and once it enters our canal systems that go to our agricultural customers or our city customers, we could send that water to either surface water treatment plants, or urban recharge basins scattered throughout the city that are owned by the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District.

FID also has over 30 recharge and regulation basins scattered throughout the district, and over the years, over the last 10 years, we've recharged over 350,000 acre-feet into the ground, and that bolsters our groundwater conditions, bolsters our groundwater supplies, and it helps us get through periods of dry weather.

(light music) - The relationship between the city and FID is really key for, in terms of the city of Fresno's water resource management.

The city and FID have been working together for well over 50 years, and the city relies upon the district, in terms of the conveyance of surface water from the San Joaquin River, as well as the Kings River.

And we've relied upon that for groundwater recharge, and then today through an expansion of infrastructure, you know, more importantly, we are utilizing that surface water to directly treat it, deliver that to our customers, and that allows us to save our groundwater, and ensure sustainable water for decades to come.

Prior to 2004, the city of Fresno was a 100% groundwater-based system.

So from the inception of the city up to 2004, all of the drinking water that was produced by the city was pumped out of the ground.

And the concern with that is, you know, for many decades, you know, we had seen that groundwater levels were dropping, and you know, the city hasn't run out of water, but it's definitely a concern.

And that led to the investment in new infrastructure, you know, reaffirming our relationship with the Fresno Irrigation District to get water to new surface water treatment facilities.

That way we can treat that water, deliver it to our customers, and together we can work on groundwater sustainability going forward.

(gentle music) - For Clovis, it certainly presents an opportunity for some great partnerships.

We partner in many ways that are a bit invisible to the general public.

Fresno Irrigation District provides the water to our surface water treatment plant, to our recharge basins.

We partner with them in the Groundwater Sustainability Agency, and in water banking facilities.

Their canals and water conveyances, and their cooperation and partnership with Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District is critical to protecting our residents from flooding.

But those are largely invisible.

But a very visible way we partner with them is in the trails that we have along the Fresno Irrigation District canals and waterways.

Clovis' trails are a defining feature in our city, and they're very popular with our residents.

And I think we all realize that green space is a critical component of a healthy and attractive community, and when you combine a green space with the so-called blue spaces, bodies of water like lakes or waterways, the effect is magnified.

(gentle music) - So one of the concepts that we had was when we made water delivery to our growers, we went from the gate, and we moved backwards.

And what that basically meant is we are a service provider.

So the service we wanted to provide wanted to be second to none, still get the water to our growers, but we actually had another entity that kind of grew and developed, and those were the cities.

And so, we vastly became a district that went from delivering water to farmers, we still do, delivering water to our cities, municipalities, and then a third thing came, a third issue arose and came that we had to address, and that was the environment.

When you looked at the CVPIA, and when you looked at the environmentalists wanting more and more water for fish, and those sorts of things, we've vastly moved from just delivering water to just farmers, mostly, to delivering water to not just our growers, but to the cities, and then the environment came a critical component of what the Fresno Irrigation did, and what we're made of.

(gentle music) (light music) - Because of the proper management of the water resources within Fresno Irrigation District, we have some flexibility.

We're maximizing every drop of water that we can get into the ground that's available.

We're meeting our customer demands.

We're working with other partner agencies, so that we can be successful not only within FID, not only within the North Kings, but in the entire sub-base.

- Well, there's a unique quality to the employees that work for FID.

They have a passion for the water.

They have a passion for delivering to the customer and for serving the community.

Now, it's incumbent upon us to convey all of that to the next generation coming in.

We have a different generation of individuals that are coming into the organization, and for some of them that have been raised in the city, maybe they don't have the same understanding that those of us that were raised in ag have.

So how do we effectively convey to them those passions, and instill in them that sense of excitement for what we do here at Fresno Irrigation District?

- So I grew up on a farm, son of a fourth-generation almond farmer, and when I went to college to be an ag engineer, I definitely started focusing more and leaning towards the water, water classes, water supply, and infrastructure classes.

And it was at that time during college, I thought working for an irrigation district would be a great place to land.

Working at the Fresno Irrigation District, I got my first job right out of college back in 1998 as an entry-level engineer, and it just got in my blood.

I love the district.

I love the people.

I love our customers.

I love what we do.

And as time has gone on, and I've moved up within the organization, all those things are still true.

- And to be able to develop those facilities, to be able to to exchange water, and to move water, and to develop new water supplies, and new partnerships, not just within the irrigation district, but outside the irrigation district as well.

And for the board, you know, to understand the importance of all that to happen to come together to allow us to continue to be viable.

and to continue to address the issues that keep coming at us, whether they're environmental, whether it's managing our groundwater, or managing our surface water supplies better, the re-operation of the reservoir, all of those things put together and understanding that and being able to leverage that to become sustainable in this region is something that I was very proud to be a part of, and I'm sure that's gonna continue.

That legacy will continue as we move forward, regardless of whether I'm here or not.

(water rushes) - Pine Flat Dam was what was needed to create the water storage so important to the entire Fresno area.

The San Joaquin Valley, and the entire West for that matter, depends on water storage today, because we have a Mediterranean climate, and the summers are hot, they're dry, there's no rain.

In the old days, there was no way to capture water as it was running off from rain and snow.

It had to be used when it went past the headgates.

But with Pine Flat Dam's development and construction, its completion in 1954, for the first time, it was possible to store that water, and time its release to when it was needed, and that was in the late spring and summer months.

And for the Fresno Irrigation District, it made all the difference in the world in how water supplies were managed and the service that can be provided to water users throughout the Fresno Irrigation District.

- You know, water is the lifeblood of the San Joaquin Valley.

Really nothing exists here, whether it's mankind, or it's the crops that we see around us, without water, and that water is a necessity for agriculture.

And a lot of times, farmers get blamed overusing water, or using too much water.

But the fact is that ultimately it's the consumer, the eater, the person who's enjoying our fruits, vegetables, and nuts that is the true beneficiary of the water that we're utilizing.

The fact that we're able to take a precious natural resource and put it to use in agriculture, and feed not just this country, but the world, is something that's just absolutely mind-boggling.

And our farmers do it so seamlessly, and do it so effortlessly, although it takes a lot of work and a lot of resources to pull that all together.

Here at the Fresno Irrigation District, where you're now going into the future that, you know, water is gonna continue to be the most precious commodity.

It's gonna continue to be fought over.

It's gonna continue to be sought after, and we are really trying to take the leadership role of bringing everybody to the table, you know, different interest groups.

I mean, we represent everybody.

I mean, it's not just farmers and ranchers.

We talk about that, because we're very proud of it from our history, but also we have a very large urban segment, and all of these interest groups, you know, have different priorities, have different interests, but we all have that same common need that we wanna see the Valley succeed.

We wanna say, you know, we wanna stay important in agriculture.

We wanna stay important to have a vibrant economy here locally, and water really is the center of that, and bringing people to the table is something that I think we'll be able to do very uniquely as we go into the future.

(gentle music) (funky music) - [Announcer] Production funding for "American Grown: My Job Depends on Ag" provided by James G. Parker Insurance Associates, insuring and protecting agribusiness for over 40 years, by GAR Bennett, the growing experts in water, irrigation, nutrition, and crop care advice and products, we help growers feed the world, by Golden State Farm Credit, building relationships with rural America by providing ag financial services, by Brandt Professional Agriculture, proudly supporting the heroes that work hard to feed a hungry world every day, by unWired Broadband, today's internet for rural Central California, keeping Valley agriculture connected since 2003, by Hodges Electric, proudly serving the Central Valley since 1979, and by Valley Air Conditioning and Repair, family-owned for over 50 years, proudly featuring Coleman products, dedicated to supporting agriculture, and the families to grow our nation's food.

(rocket blasts) (wind gusts) (bright music)