The Truckee Carson Irrigation District Board of Directors heard from Josh Voorheis of the Bureau of Reclamation this week at their regular meeting, who reported on the progress of the TCIDWORKS (Water Operations Record Keeping System) program being developed as a replacement for the legacy database that the district has been using to manage water usage in the Newlands Project.
For the past several years TCID has used a database along with the Excel program to manage scheduling water deliveries, along with accounting functions in Access. Additionally, accessing files required the staff and users to be on a physical computer in order to make use of the system. This new WORKS program will bridge all these various programs, and working from the internet, giving local water users and staff a one-stop access to necessary information for managing ordering, scheduling, and deliveries of water. The application will also assist district staff with taxing, elections, pumps, season close-out, and will provide a user login functionality for water users.
Currently, the application is in the third review period and is expected to be completed by November and released for use by TCID in February. Voorheis said that in March allocation letters with maps will go out and those will be used to verify takeout names and locations. When it is finally released to water users, they will be able to use the application to order water, verify deliveries, and check their allocation balances.
In other business, Rob Martinez of the Lahontan Basin Area Office in Carson City reported on the credit water under TROA (Truckee River Operation Agreement) saying this is the first year there will be availability for additional storage in the upstream reservoirs on the Truckee side for the project. He also said the Old Lahontan transfer is still on track moving through the congressional process, and the BOR is in the process of a Bridge Inventory that has staff examining all crossings and bridges to address responsibility between the Bureau, TCID, and the landowner.
Additionally, a presentation was made by the Farmers Conservation Alliance, a non-profit organization that is contracted through the BOR to provide TCID with a Project Modernization Plan. Julie O’Shea, executive director, and Margi Hoffman, strategic operations director, told the board that they are in the process of fieldwork throughout the district to assess technical assistance opportunities, looking at the facilities and structures. This fieldwork will provide the background information necessary for the group to access potential funding opportunities to do the modernization projects.
FCA works with irrigation districts in Oregon, California, and Montana to access and leverage funding. The group recently participated in the upgrade of the fish ladder project at Derby Dam. Hoffman said there is funding available through several federal agencies for modernization work, including FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. In fact, the NRCS currently has $24.9 million available in the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention fund specifically to do irrigation project modernization work.
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