Committee recommends renewal of David’s Engineering contract for measurement services; staff flags costs and integration challenges

The Madera County Groundwater Sustainability Agency committee on March 4, 2025 voted 2-0 to forward a contract renewal with David’s Engineering to the Board of Supervisors to assist with 2025 allocation monitoring for flow meters, HydroSat (formerly EuroWatch), and Land IQ data processing.

Staff described David’s Engineering as an existing vendor that provides QA/QC and programming support for a large volume of meter and remote-sensing data. “They help in conjunction with staff doing QA, QC to process this data and turn it into reports,” Stephanie, GSA staff, said. Staff noted the HydroSat portion of the services (the satellite-based ETAW product) carries a separate estimated cost of about $150,000, and that top-end contract estimates vary with workload; staff said the contract could approach $300,000 in a high-data year but that invoices historically have been lower.

The committee discussion emphasized trade-offs among the three primary measurement options the GSA currently allows: flow meters (ground-based readings), satellite products (HydroSat/OpenET), and Land IQ raster outputs. Staff explained that integrating the different data streams is costly because they measure related but different quantities and must be processed into farm-unit reports. Stephanie also told the committee that investing in an accounting platform to integrate allocations, carryover and recharge records would be useful but sizeable: “It is in the $200,000 to $400,000 range,” she said, estimating a platform cost depending on the number of data streams and features.

Growers at the meeting urged continued use of David’s Engineering and argued for clearer choices on measurement methods and an online accounting platform. Noah Lopez, representing Madera Ag Water Association, told the committee his organization “has heard nothing but support for David’s Engineering as a top-quality contractor,” and encouraged the agency to evaluate measurement options and seek cost efficiencies. Other growers recommended faster reporting (staff currently issues monthly letters about 45 days after the period) and the ability to see near-real-time consumption and localized overdraft conditions.

Committee members moved and seconded forwarding the contract recommendation; a roll-call vote by the committee recorded Director Rogers and Director Gonzales voting yes, 2-0. Staff told the committee both the HydroSat (EuroWatch) and Land IQ contracts expire at the end of 2025, deliberately timed so the Board can hold a public discussion about future measurement options and costs.

Staff said the David’s Engineering contract renewal would allow continued processing and reporting in 2025 while the agency evaluates measurement-policy changes and potential investments in an accounting platform.