The Oakdale Irrigation District’s Tuesday, Jan. 17 meeting agenda will contain an item related a possible “winter” irrigation, said OID General Manager Steve Knell. He said that OID has had a number of inquiries about having an irrigation rotation due to the lack of rainfall but that the decision is up to the board of directors.

OID’s sister district, South San Joaquin Irrigation District, had the same type of item on today’s, Jan. 10, meeting agenda. It appeared as “Discussion and possible action concerning a winter water run” on the agenda.

Knell noted that SSJID has a different setup than OID. He said that if the SSJID board approved the item, then SSJID would pull water from Woodward Reservoir to irrigate. Knell also said that the water already in Woodward is considered 2011 water and that it won’t count against SSJID’s 2012 allotment from New Melones. OID doesn’t have that kind of option, Knell said.

OID had a post-2011 water season irrigation rotation in October 2011 of 15,000 acre feet that counted against its 2012 allotment. Knell said that if the OID board approved an irrigation rotation at this point, then it would result in the district being a total of 30,000 acre feet “in the hole” before the standard start of the season.

OID and SSJID equally share an allotment of the first 600,000 acre feet of water that flows into New Melones Reservoir annually.

Look for more information on this developing story and the OID board’s decision in the Jan. 18 issue of The Oakdale Leader.