Negotiations focusing on how Friant Water Authority will repay the Bureau of Reclamation for a $22.2 million study mapping out how to fix the northern and southern portions of the sinking Friant-Kern Canal began Wednesday in Fresno. “We anticipate these talks should go smoothly, and we look forward to the conversation,” Wilson Orvis, Friant’s chief financial officer, said at the beginning of the meeting, which went on for another three hours as both sides scoured the draft contract line by line. The details are vitally important, said one observer who is involved in multiple legal actions over how to pay for already completed repairs on one section of the canal. “Clarity would have and will avoid further disputes as has occurred with Phase 1 of the Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project,” said Sean Geivet, General Manager of the Terra Bella, Saucelito and Porterville irrigation districts.