December Landowner Letter
December 18, 2015
Dear Landowner,
The BMA Board of Directors amended the BMA water delivery policy at the December 14, 2015 regularly scheduled board meeting. The BMA Board reviewed the BMA water policy changes that were recommended by a water delivery policy committee that consisted of Landowners, Directors and BMA Managers.
Listed below are the changes to the BMA water delivery policy that were approved by board action on December 14, 2015:
(I) Methods;
The District will make available a determined amount of non-municipal water for purchase by District Landowners in a calendar year, on or before January 1 of new irrigation season.
The determined amount of non-municipal water for purchase by District Landowners will be presold on a first come first serve basis.
In January of each year, any District Landowner may elect to purchase up to 0.70 of an acre foot of water, per acre, on a given tract said District Landowner owns subject to section III that pertains to conditions for delivery.
In February of each year, should there be remaining water unsold of the determined amount, any District Landowner that purchased water in January may purchase an additional amount adjusted in proportionally to the amount the District Landowner purchased in January.
A District Landowner may transfer all or part of water purchased for the tract to any other tract owned by the District Landowner or leased from a District Landowner subject to a notarized arms length property lease agreement requirement.
The presale of non-municipal water will be paid at the prevailing rate of the District.
All monies prepaid for non-municipal water is non-refundable.
All water applications must be completed by December 1st of each calendar year.
Lessees must provide a notarized lease for District Landowner tracts and are subject to existing policy requirements.
(III) Conditions for Delivery;
Priority water is removed from BMA water Delivery Policy.
Water will be released on or after February 1st of each calendar year after a cumulative 500 acre feet of water applications have been received by the District. If at any time the canal system has been shut down during the irrigation year, a cumulative 500 acre feet in water applications is required to restart the system. If canal system has been shut down at anytime during the period of February 1 through December 1, in any calendar year and not sufficient water orders to meet the 500 acre feet in water applications, triggering the restart of system, any water orders placed in during this occurrence will NOT be entitled to a refund.
Premium water will be sold for tracts over three (3) acres that have high need crop water utilization and shall be at 50% over the prevailing District rate and delivered first. Crops that are considered by the District to be high need water utilization crops are: Leafy Greens, Chards, Spinach, Cabbage, Lettuce, Turnips, Collard greens, Mustard greens, Kale, Cilantro, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Beets, Okra, Tomatoes, Squash, Peppers, Carrots, Onions, Eggplant and Melons. Corn is not part of this group.
The Board approved determined amount of non municipal water to be sold for 2016 is 23,000 acre feet. The water rate for 2016 is $36.00 per acre foot with a two acre foot minimum of $72.00 and a reactivation fee of $36.00.
Please contact the BMA office 830-665-2132 with any questions regarding the Water Delivery Policy changes.
We are very blessed to have water in Medina Lake available for 2016 and must make every effort to conserve water to protect our water resource.
BMA Board of Directors
