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Walkthrough

Madera County / SGMA field guide

Two months of missing meter data and you are back on satellite.

Growing almonds, pistachios or grapes in a County GSA white area? Your allocation is measured in inches of evapotranspiration of applied water (ETAW), the penalty on overage is up to $400 per acre-foot in 2026 and up to $500 from 2027, and you choose each year between the Hydrosat satellite portal and your own approved meters. The meter path has deadlines every month. This page lays out the rules with their dates.

Public sources checked . Confirm later changes with your GSA.

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The allocation, 2026 to 2040

“inches of evapotranspiration of applied water (ETAW) per irrigated acre”

County GSA allocations apply to its white areas, not to land governed by a district GSA. They are stated in inches of ETAW per irrigated acre, set per parcel, shareable inside a designated farm unit, and measured against the estimated 2020 ETAW. Sustainable yield (SY) is constant; transitional water (TW) steps down to zero in 2040.

Madera Subbasin, in inches (SY + TW = total): 2026, 12.3 + 12.9 = 25.2 (2.10 acre-feet per acre); 2027, 12.3 + 12.0 = 24.3; 2028, 12.3 + 11.1 = 23.4; 2030, 12.3 + 9.2 = 21.5; 2035, 12.3 + 4.6 = 16.9; 2040, 12.3 + 0.0 = 12.3.

Chowchilla: 2026, 7.1 + 16.8 = 23.9 (1.99 acre-feet per acre); 2027, 7.1 + 15.6 = 22.7; 2028, 7.1 + 14.4 = 21.5; 2030, 7.1 + 12.0 = 19.1; 2035, 7.1 + 6.0 = 13.1; 2040, 7.1 + 0.0 = 7.1. Delta-Mendota: 2026, 15.3 + 17.2 = 32.5 (2.71 acre-feet per acre); 2027, 15.3 + 16.0 = 31.3; 2028, 15.3 + 14.7 = 30.0; 2030, 15.3 + 12.3 = 27.6; 2035, 15.3 + 6.1 = 21.4; 2040, 15.3 + 0.0 = 15.3. Do not move an allocation between those areas.

The County's Allocation Chart carries the full 15-year table; acre-feet per acre is inches divided by 12. Transitional water is reserved for land irrigated before June 8, 2021; never-irrigated land opted in during November receives sustainable yield alone. Carryover: "carryover does not have any decay factor and/or expiration date"; it rolls automatically and is split volumetrically if a farm unit is reorganized (Resolution 2025-114). Recharge credits run from 75 percent to 90 percent of measured recharge and carry over.

The penalty, by calendar year

“A civil penalty not to exceed $100 per acre-foot in calendar year 2023, increasing by $100 per acre-foot per calendar year to a maximum of $500 per acre-foot”

That ceiling applies to "the total acre-feet extracted in excess of the amount that person or entity is authorized to extract for the subject parcel or farm unit" (Resolutions 2022-143, 2022-144 and 2022-145, adopted September 27, 2022, effective January 1, 2023). The County's table, per acre-foot over the farm unit allocation: up to $200 in 2024, up to $300 in 2025, up to $400 in 2026, up to $500 in 2027, and up to $500 every year after. Chowchilla adds up to $1,000 per farm unit per year.

There are no volume tiers. The amounts are maximums, not automatic bills: the GSA weighs "the nature and persistence of the violation" and any corrective action. Farm-unit penalties are apportioned to parcels by volume. Scale: 2025 penalties totaled $1,113,061 in the Madera Subbasin and $649,710 in Chowchilla; no farm units were in penalty in Delta-Mendota.

The invoice cycle, then the tax roll

“Growers were notified of penalties in their year-end reports. Invoices were sent March 13, 2026 and payments are collected via direct payment (check) through April 27, 2026. Payments not made in that time frame are collected on property tax bills as a penalty.”

The rule: penalties "shall become due within thirty (30) days of the date of the notice, with an opportunity for the violator to be heard"; unpaid amounts accrue 6 percent a year and may be declared a lien or a special assessment "collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary taxes" (Resolution 2022-145, items 4 to 7).

The quote above is the 2025 cycle as the County ran it. Unpaid 2024 penalties were collected through the December 2025 tax roll, where the line reads "GSA Penalties Madera." Meter users receive monthly allocation reports by mail and email; satellite users see the portal in real time and download year-end reports there. The exact release date of the year-end report is not yet published as of October 5, 2026; the documented sequence is year-end report, then invoice, then check payments, then the tax roll.

Fees sit on the same tax bill but are kept separate from penalties: the GSA Admin Fee, "approximately $27 per irrigated acre," CPI-adjusted, across all three subbasins (billed as "County GSA Fee"); and, in the Madera Subbasin alone, the GSP Project Fee of $59 per enrolled acre for fiscal year 2026 ($67, $69, $42 and $43 for 2027 to 2030), which funds domestic well mitigation (billed as "GSP Project Fee - Madera Subbasin"). Rangeland never irrigated is fee-exempt. Chowchilla has no project fee.

Satellite or meters: the 2026 rules

“If two months (consecutive or non-consecutive) of data on any meter in a Farm Unit is unreported or unusable within one calendar year, the grower will be moved automatically to a satellite measurement, for all meters in the Farm Unit for the year”

"Currently, the MCGSA offers two methods for growers to choose from for measurement: 1. Hydrosat (IrriWatch) ... an online portal with personalized logins that allow growers to monitor data in real time. 2. Private meters with paper reports mailed and e-mailed monthly." Land IQ was dropped after its contract expired at the end of 2025. The method is chosen at the start of each year, for all parcels in the farm unit, and a meter user who does not meet the standards is assigned the satellite method instead. In 2025, 31 percent of farm units were on Hydrosat and 15 percent on meters.

Private meters (Resolution 2025-044, May 13, 2025, and the 2026 booklet). Pre-approval: a well-to-parcel map, photos and an installation report from an approved vendor, a calibration report every two years, confirmation that the wells serve the identified fields and nothing else, and a signed attestation, submitted to MeterVerification@maderacounty.com; a Flowmeter ID sticker is issued per meter.

Monthly readings go in through the County portal between the 1st and the 10th of the month, with a grace period from the 11th to the 20th: "No data for the month will be accepted after the 20th. If data is not submitted by the 20th of the month, the groundwater allocation report will not be issued, and the data is considered missing."

The two-month rule is the quote above: two months, consecutive or not, of unreported or unusable data on any meter in a farm unit within one calendar year moves every meter in the farm unit to satellite measurement for the year, and the farm unit must be re-approved to use meters the next year.

Malfunctioning meters must be repaired or replaced within 10 business days; calibration is due every two years from an approved vendor; surface water is metered separately; every powered well is metered even if idle; and "Being issued a Madera County GSA meter sticker does not mean Madera County GSA approves the installation and calibration of the meter."

Why it matters: one missed month counts as missing, the second converts the whole farm unit to satellite for the year. We keep records from connected meters and flag missing readings. The monthly sheet shows the records received; signing of well-meter records is planned. Submitting to the County's web form stays with you or your adviser.

Appealing the satellite number

“If you wish to dispute the satellite data used for measurement, you have the option to submit your own data for review by a third party at the end of the calendar year. The decision made by the third party will be final.”

The rules (Resolution 2024-121, October 1, 2024): one complete submission "no later than March 1 for the prior year," emailed to MaderaCountyGSAappeals@GEIconsultants.com and wnr@maderacounty.com, covering every meter on every well serving the appealed fields.

It must include: an installation inspection report and a calibration report, laboratory or field; monthly volume data with "a legible photograph of the flow meter reading" each month, including the start of the year, even for zero flow (an electric bill showing zero use, or a Rule 1160 diesel report, can stand in for a missing month), with telemetry accepted in place of photos when the County gets "a direct telemetry service interface link and password(s)" to date-stamped daily or finer data and monthly totals with "no significant gaps"; a map of which fields each well and meter serve, with acres, crop and age, and the irrigation system type; physical access to wells, meters and fields; and every non-groundwater source metered too.

The appellant pays the cost if the appeal is denied. A successful appeal lands as "Successful Appeal Credits" in the report's Adjustments column.

The penalty itself has a separate track: a written dispute to the Director within 30 days of notice, an independent consultant's determination, then an appeal to the Board within 20 days with a hearing inside 45 days.

The report you are measured against

“Total Allocation (AF): The sum of the current year's allocation, carryover and any adjustments”

Each Master Account's Groundwater Allocation Report shows, by farm unit and by parcel: Current Year's Allocation (AF); Carryover (AF); Total Allocation (current year plus carryover plus adjustments); Sustainable Yield Acreage and Transitional Water Acreage; ETAW (AF); Adjustments (surface water, recharge, successful appeal credits); Remaining (AF) and Remaining (%). Satellite users read it at irriwatch.hydrosat.com; meter users get it monthly by mail and email.

Who to contact at the County GSA

Madera County Water and Natural Resources Department, 200 W. Fourth Street, Suite 3100, Madera, CA 93637; (559) 662-8015; WNR@maderacounty.com. Director: Stephanie Anagnoson. Water Resources Specialists, the grower-facing contacts: Aleta Allen (559) 831-7166; Leticia Tapia (559) 831-7172; Jacinta Cabral (559) 831-7173; Tukta Phetasa (559) 514-4819. Appointments, in person or by Zoom, through maderacountywater.com/appointments.

Meter approvals: MeterVerification@maderacounty.com. ETAW appeals: MaderaCountyGSAappeals@GEIconsultants.com and wnr@maderacounty.com. The MCGSA Committee meets at 1:30 pm one week before the Board of Directors (the Board of Supervisors), which takes up its items on the second Tuesday of the month.

District GSAs in Madera County set their own allocations and fees and are not covered on this page. The directory below links the agencies in each subbasin.

What this means for a 500-acre Madera Subbasin orchard

500 eligible acres x 25.2 inches / 12 = 1,050 acre-feet of 2026 ETAW allocation, plus any carryover and credits. ETAW of 1,150 acre-feet would be 100 acre-feet over: up to 100 x $400 = $40,000 in 2026, or $50,000 at the 2027 ceiling, invoiced to the farm unit and, if unpaid, placed on the parcels' tax bills.

Compare against GSA-accounted ETAW, not a raw well total: a meter counts applied water, and ETAW is consumptive use. Unit math, not a claim about your orchard. Estimate only. Verify with the Madera County GSA.

Free SGMA estimator

Use your GSA account, not a county average.

ESTIMATE ONLY. Verify with your GSA. This is not a bill, a compliance determination or an irrigation recommendation.

Example selection. Confirm your parcel’s GSA.

January 1 to December 31, 2026. Use eligible irrigated acres and GSA-accounted evapotranspiration of applied water (ETAW). Do not enter gross pumping as ETAW.

Enter your eligible acres in place of the 500-acre example.

Use the same accounting basis as your GSA.

For this period and these acres. No assumed use.

Enter your acreage, GSA-approved budget and accounted use, then confirm the GSA and period. Blank does not mean zero.

Rate source, checked 2026-10-05: https://www.maderacountywater.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/RES-NO.-2022-145.pdf

AF means acre-feet. Inputs stay in this page and are not submitted to a server. The estimator reuses the allocation and tier arithmetic behind our SGMA calculator.

Madera County subbasins and GSA contacts

County lines are not GSA boundaries. These are public agency and shared agency websites, not a determination of parcel coverage. Basin partners may extend into neighboring counties. Open the official directory or map before choosing a rate. Checked 2026-10-05.

Madera Subbasin

County GSA office for the white areas of all three subbasins: Madera County Water and Natural Resources Department, 200 W. Fourth Street, Suite 3100, Madera, CA 93637, (559) 662-8015, WNR@maderacounty.com (2026 Summary of Rules Booklet, May 2026). Meter approvals: MeterVerification@maderacounty.com. ETAW appeals: MaderaCountyGSAappeals@GEIconsultants.com and wnr@maderacounty.com.

Official Madera Subbasin source

Chowchilla Subbasin

Includes the adjoining Merced County GSA as a basin partner.

Official Chowchilla Subbasin source

Delta-Mendota Subbasin, Madera County areas

The shared subbasin directory also lists partners outside Madera County.

Official Delta-Mendota Subbasin, Madera County areas source

Madera County questions

Is the $400 per acre-foot an automatic bill?

No. It is the 2026 ceiling: up to $400 per acre-foot. The resolution says "not to exceed" and directs the GSA to weigh the circumstances; invoices follow the year-end report.

If one meter misses a month, what happens?

The monthly allocation report is not issued and the month counts as missing. A second missing or unusable month on any meter in the farm unit, in the same calendar year, moves the whole farm unit to satellite measurement for the year.

Can I use my meter to challenge the Hydrosat number?

Yes, as a complete submission by March 1 for the prior year, with calibration, monthly photos or telemetry access, maps and site access; the third-party decision is final and you pay if it is denied.

Does this page apply inside Madera Irrigation District?

No. County GSA rules cover the white areas; district GSAs have their own allocations and fees.

Bring the allocation statement. We'll work through the math.

A short conversation about your accounting basis, missing evidence and questions for the GSA. No assumed water savings.

Or send us your GSA, acres, crop and how your water is measured for a free water position check.

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