California has been the nation’s
leading agricultural and dairy state for the past 50 years. The
state’s 80,500 farms and ranches produce more than 400 different
agricultural products. These products generated a record $44.7
billion in sales value in 2012, accounting for 11.3 percent of
the US total.
Breaking down the state’s agricultural role in the country,
California produces 21 percent of the nation’s milk supply, 23
percent of its cheese and 92 percent of all grapes. The state
also produces half of all domestically-grown fruits, nuts and
vegetables, including some products, such as almonds, walnuts,
artichokes, persimmons and pomegranates, of which 99 percent are
grown in California.
Overall, about 3 percent of employment in the state is directly
or indirectly related to agriculture.
The Sacramento Superior Court has ruled in favor of the State
Water Board’s 2018 Bay Delta Plan update, denying all 116
claims by petitioners. In December 2018, the State Water
Resources Control Plan adopted revised flow
objectives for the San Joaquin River and its three major
tributaries, the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced rivers. The
new flow objectives provide for increased flows on the three
tributaries to help revive and protect native fall-run
migratory fish populations. The Board also adopted a revised
south Delta salinity objectives, increasing the level of
salinity allowed from April to August. Several petitions
were filed in several counties challenging the Board’s
action.
… For millennia seasonal wetlands dotted California’s Central
Valley … But as farms and towns have taken over the
landscape, nearly all those shallow, ephemeral water bodies
have disappeared, leaving avian migrants with scant options for
pit stops. With shorebirds rapidly declining along the Pacific
Flyway, conservationists and landowners have joined forces to
help turn the tide. Launched in
2014, BirdReturns runs via reverse auctions … Since
its inception, the program—jointly run by Audubon California,
The Nature Conservancy, and Point Blue Conservation Science—has
paid more than 100 farmers a total of $2 million to flood
60,000 acres throughout the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.
Buoyed by a recent $15 million grant from the state, the
program is poised to greatly expand its reach.
Climate change is driving up the thirst of crops
significantly in California’s San Joaquin Valley, new research
shows, adding to the critical water challenges faced by one of
the world’s leading agricultural regions. The total water
demand of orchards, vineyards and row crops in the area is up
4.4% over the past decade compared with the prior 30 years
because of hotter, drier conditions, and it’s likely to
continue growing, according to a federally funded study
published this week. In 2021, the water demand of crops was up
an astonishing 12.3%, the study shows. While the warming
atmosphere has long been known to dry out plants and soil, the
new research identifies the impact specific to the
San Joaquin Valley.
California citrus farmers are finding ways to adapt to the
changing landscape, as the challenges of this production year
come to light. Amid the harvest of California navels,
mandarins, and other specialty varieties, two industry leaders
share their perspectives on the prospects of the industry.
… Jim Phillips, President and CEO of Sunkist, expressed
similar concerns regarding production but also emphasized the
current state of affairs regarding the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA). California citrus farmers need the
support of the legislature regarding water access, as the issue
is outpacing almost every other concern for growers, said
Phillips. Both Bates and Phillips noted that the
substantial amount of rainfall and snowpack over the past two
winters are supporting growers in the fight for water access.
Cannon Michael has been re-elected as the chairman of the San
Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. The San Luis &
Delta-Mendota Water Authority announced Michael’s re-election
on Monday. The big picture: Michael is the president
of family-owned Los Banos farming operation Bowles Farming
Company. He also serves as the chair of the Henry Miller
Reclamation District, as a board member of the Water Education
Foundation and as an advisory board member of the Public Policy
Institute of California.
Arizona officials said a Saudi-owned company they targeted over
its use of groundwater to grow forage crops is moving its
farming operation out of a valley in the Southwestern state’s
rural west. Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Arizona State Land
Department announced late Thursday that Fondomonte Arizona is
officially no longer pumping water in the Butler Valley
groundwater basin. Some residents of La Paz County had
complained that the company’s pumping was threatening their
wells. A statement by Hobbs says an on-site inspection had
confirmed that Fondomonte was moving to vacate the property.
Fondomonte has several other farms elsewhere in Arizona that
are not affected by the decision.
The future availability of irrigation water for California
growers has never been less certain. To help growers survive a
future of “water uncertainty,” the non-profit Soil Health
Academy today announced an on-farm school at the Burroughs
Family almond orchard April 30-May 2 in Denair, California,
that will offer agricultural producers principles and tools to
grow profits and resiliency with much less water. The
school, sponsored by Simple Mills, will feature instruction,
demonstrations and insights from world-renowned soil health
pioneers Gabe Brown, Allen Williams, Ph.D., along with Chuck
Schembre and other orchard, vineyard and vegetable production
experts.
A Saudi Arabian farm previously permitted to pump unlimited
amounts of groundwater to grow alfalfa for dairy cows overseas
has stopped irrigating its crops on state land in Arizona’s
Butler Valley, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs announced Thursday.
Hobbs and the Arizona State Land Department announced after a
recent inspection Fondomonte had stopped pumping water in the
Butler Valley groundwater basin and has begun to take steps to
leave the property. Hobbs took full credit for the outcome,
saying it was a result of her move to terminate and decline to
renew Fondomonte’s leases on state land in the area, part of a
broader crackdown from Hobbs and her Democratic attorney
general Kris Mayes.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge confirmed that the
Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin is one connected basin—not
separate subbasins—allowing for the groundwater adjudication to
move forward following a year-and-a-half of delays and
litigation. … The Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin is one
of California’s 21 critically overdrafted basins that was
required under the 2014 California Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA) to create a groundwater sustainability
agency (GSA) and corresponding groundwater sustainability plan.
After the California Department of Water Resources approved the
sustainability plan, which called for a 60 percent water use
reduction in 20 years, agricultural corporations Bolthouse
Farms and Grimmway Farms filed a groundwater adjudication
against every landowner in the Cuyama Valley in August
2021.
A once-in-a-generation downturn in the wine market is reshaping
California’s grape-growing regions as farmers tear out vines to
rebalance supply with declining demand. Throughout this winter,
bulldozers plowed through Lodi’s wine country, leveling
vineyards and piling vines in mangled heaps on either side of
Highway 99 in San Joaquin County. Thousands of acres in the
region have been removed or are slated for removal, according
to an ongoing survey of its members by the Lodi District Grape
Growers Association.
California almond farms are struggling to pay the bills with
low prices for their nuts. Trinitas Farm, an almond farm in
Oakdale, filed for bankruptcy in February due to falling almond
prices, rising water rates, and high interest rates making it
impossible to keep up. Almond farmers that CBS13 spoke with
agree but said the biggest driving force of this fallout can be
summed up in one word: inflation. “It has now come to the point
where I see the end of that coming, of that generational
farming,” said Bill Van Ryn, who has an almond farm in San
Joaquin County. He said farmers are simply crippled by costs
and that is causing some California almond farmers to file for
bankruptcy, likely with more to follow.
Fallout over the ever sinking Friant-Kern Canal could affect
growers throughout the Tule subbasin regardless of whether they
get water from the canal. The state Water Resources
Control Board already has the subbasin in its cross hairs for
neglecting to create a coordinated plan to bring aquifers into
balance under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
(SGMA). A hearing for the Tule subbasin is scheduled for
September. Now, new – and worsened – subsidence (land
sinking) beneath the Friant-Kern Canal has prompted the canal’s
operator to seek help from the Water Board.
Transitioning towards sustainable groundwater usage is becoming
more accessible for farmers and Groundwater Sustainability
Agencies (GSAs) through involvement in the LandFlex Grant
Program. The Department of Water Resources (DWR), which
developed the program, prioritizes access to those living in
rural areas with critically overdrafted basins. LandFlex
provides farmers with resources to comply with requirements of
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) while
increasing availability of groundwater to surrounding local
communities. With depleting underground water availability, the
DWR hopes to accelerate sustainable groundwater usage
immediately, rather than SGMA’s goal of groundwater
sustainability by 2040.
For much of the last decade, almonds have been such a lucrative
crop that growers and investment firms have poured money into
planting new orchards across vast stretches of California
farmland. Now, the almond boom has fizzled and the industry has
entered a slump. Prices have dropped over the last several
years, and the state’s total almond acreage has started to
decrease as growers have begun to tear out orchards and plant
other crops. … Over the last decade, the almond boom
coincided with growing concerns about water in California. When
growers and investment companies bought land and drilled wells
to pump groundwater in the Central Valley, the expanding nut
orchards locked in long-term water demands and added to
the strains on the state’s declining aquifers. Wenger
said he thinks it’s possible that if some of these orchards
come out of production, groundwater levels could rise in
places.
The California Farm Water Coalition announced Thursday Greg
Johnson has been elected as its next president. Johnson
owns Far West Rice in Durham. Johnson succeeds Bill
Diedrich as president, who served in the role for the last
eight years. Along with Johnson, the Coalition also
announced that Imperial Valley farmer Gina Dockstader has been
elected Vice President. Fresno County farmer Wayne Western
of Hammonds Ranch has been elected as the secretary and
treasurer of the board. Brett Lauppe and Jeff Sutton also
join the board as new members. The organization’s
returning directors are Peter Nelson, Mark McKean and Diana
Westmoreland.
A Native American tribe with one of the largest outstanding
claims to water in the Colorado River basin is closing in on a
settlement with more than a dozen parties, putting it on a path
to piping water to tens of thousands of tribal members in
Arizona who still live without it. Negotiating terms outlined
late Wednesday include water rights not only for the Navajo
Nation but the neighboring Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute
tribes in the northeastern corner of the state. The water would
come from a mix of sources: the Colorado River that serves
seven western states, the Little Colorado River, and aquifers
and washes on tribal lands. The agreement is decades in the
making and would allow the tribes to avoid further litigation
and court proceedings, which have been costly.
Growing your food can be a wonderful and fulfilling activity to
connect with nature, improve your health and well-being, and,
oh yeah, save water. California grows more than 400
agricultural commodities, which translates into over one-third
of the vegetables and almost three-fourths of the country’s
fruits and nuts. Regardless of your view on commercial
agriculture, one thing is true, California has prime weather
for growing a wide range of edible plants in your backyard,
balcony, or indoor window sill. Sometimes, gardening is
easier said than done. And more often than not, when we think
about water efficiency and conservation, we think about
removing turf and installing beautiful native landscapes. This
is certainly a wonderful endeavor and can supply a needed
habitat for beneficial pollinators, improve soil health,
support local ecology, and save water.
In the heart of California, at the place where two great rivers
converge beneath the Tule fog, lies the linchpin of one of the
largest water supply systems in the world. [T]he Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta … is also the site of a bitter,
decades-long battle over a proposed plan known as the Delta
Conveyance Project — a 45-mile tunnel that would run beneath
the delta to move more water from Northern California to
thirsty cities to the south. State officials say the
tunnel is a critical piece of infrastructure that would help
protect millions of Californians from losing water supplies in
the event of a major earthquake or levee break.
… Opponents say the tunnel is a boondoggle that would
further imperil the delta’s fragile ecosystem, which has
already been eroded by heavy water withdrawals for agriculture
and cities.
There is a solar-powered revolution going on in the fields of
India. By 2026, more than 3 million farmers will be raising
irrigation water from beneath their fields using solar-powered
pumps. With effectively free water available in almost
unlimited quantities to grow their crops, their lives could be
transformed. Until the water runs out. The desert state of
Rajasthan is the Indian pioneer and has more solar pumps than
any other. Over the past decade, the government has given
subsidized solar pumps to almost 100,000 farmers. Those pumps
now water more than a million acres and have enabled
agricultural water use to increase by more than a quarter. But
as a result, water tables are falling rapidly. There is little
rain to replace the water being pumped to the surface. In
places, the underground rocks are now dry down to 400 feet
below ground.
Arizona’s Auditor General has released a scathing report,
criticizing the State Land Department for leasing land to a
Saudi-owned company in western Arizona at cheap rates. The
company, Fondomonte, used the land — and the groundwater
beneath it — to grow alfalfa for dairy cattle in the
Middle East. State Auditor General Lindsey Perry says the Land
Department’s practices for valuing the land it leases don’t
align with what’s recommended. In addition, state law requires
the department to conduct a mass appraisal of its properties at
least once every 10 years to determine its agricultural rental
rates. But the last one was done in 2005. This resulted in $3.4
million less in revenues going into the land trust that
provides revenues for K-12 education and other beneficiaries.
California’s Bay-Delta is in trouble, and its outdated water
regulations need to catch up with the challenge. For a
generation, the State Water Resources Control Board has not
updated legally required and much needed rules for sharing
water between the environment and other water uses throughout
the Bay-Delta watershed. These new rules should result in
additional flows for this water-starved system to protect fish
and wildlife and improve water quality. Instead of finishing
more than a decade of work and establishing long-overdue
protections for the Bay-Delta ecosystem, the state is banking
on voluntary agreements among water users to guide its actions.
Some voluntary agreement proponents suggest there must be a
choice between such agreements to provide flows and habitat and
updated environmental protections. -By Felicia Marcus, visiting fellow at Stanford
University Water in the West Program; Michael Kiparsky,
water program director at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law,
Energy & the Environment (CLEE); Nell Green Nylen, senior
research fellow at CLEE; and Dave Owen, a professor at UC
Law San Francisco.
A private equity farming giant with more than 1,500 acres of
land in Fresno and Tulare counties and 8,600 acres statewide
declared bankruptcy Monday. Even with “extremely favorable
water rights and competitive water costs,” Redwood City-based
Trinitas Partners could not keep up with high borrowing costs
and consistently low almond prices, according to bankruptcy
filings. The firm owes $190 million in secured and unsecured
debt. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the
Northern District of California. … Trinitas Partners
began buying land in the Central Valley in 2015. It focused on
land with superior water rights and young almonds, making the
orchards more valuable for long-term growth, according to court
filings.
Amid all the tragedy wrought by the series of atmospheric
river-fueled storms this winter in the West, there is a silver
lining. California’s winemakers are expecting a “bumper” crop.
“With the rainfall from last year and the high vigor of the
canopy in 2023, we are expecting even bigger yields for 2024,”
said Jordan Lonborg, Vineyard Manager at Tablas Creek Vineyard.
“The rainfall we have received thus far will go a long ways in
supporting the crop that will most likely be what we call a
‘bumper’!” The winery is in Paso Robles on the
Central Coast of California. Tablas Creek’s owner, Jason Haas
shared his vineyard manager’s optimism for the vines but said
people have been hit hard.
According to a 1908 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as the
Winters Doctrine, Native American reservations are entitled to
enough water to meet their tribe’s needs. That doctrine was
recently invoked during a push by tribes to restore the Klamath
River, which flows through Oregon and California. The goal, in
part, is to restore the spawning grounds for fish for the first
time in more than 100 years. Indigenous Affairs Reporter Debra
Krol from the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network,
joins The Excerpt to discuss the ongoing battle over Indigenous
water rights.
Some of the thorniest debates over water in California revolve
around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where pumps send
water flowing to farms and cities, and where populations of
native fish have been declining…. State water regulators are
considering … “voluntary agreements” in which water agencies
pledge to forgo certain amounts of water while also funding
projects to improve wetland habitats. … To learn more
about these issues, I spoke with Felicia Marcus and Michael
Kiparsky, two experts who wrote a report outlining what they
say should be “guiding principles for effective voluntary
agreements.” … Marcus said if voluntary agreements go
forward without adequate standards in place, “the ecosystem
will continue to collapse and more species will go extinct.”
The State Water Resources Control Board handed environmental
and fishing groups a surprise loss Friday when it denied their
petition for permanent instream flow restrictions on the
drought-stricken Shasta River in Northern California. The
denial came as a surprise because both the water agency and
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom have said they want to prioritize
making some emergency drought rules for rivers permanent this
year in order to better insulate the state from recurring
drought. The board already extended the emergency limits it put
on the Scott and Shasta rivers during the drought in a December
decision, but the temporary rules run out in February 2025.
Don’t miss a once-a-year opportunity to attend our
Water
101 Workshop on April 5 to gain a deeper
understanding of California’s most precious natural resource.
One of our most popular events, the daylong workshop at
McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento offers anyone new to
California water issues or newly elected to a water district
board — and really anyone who wants a refresher — a chance to
gain a solid statewide grounding on California’s water
resources. Some of state’s leading policy and legal experts are
on the agenda for the workshop that details
the historical, legal and political facets of water management
in the state.
The El Niño cycle bringing wet weather to California is one of
the strongest such cycles on record, according to researchers
from the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA). Their
assertions are corroborated by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s climate prediction center,
which also reported a 62 percent chance El Niño would
continue from April through June with historically strong
conditions early in the year. … Record-shattering
rains poured over sections of California this week, with
rainfall totals as high as ten inches (25 centimeters),
bringing widespread flash floods. As atmospheric rivers pound
California, olive growers face the challenge of potential
diseases and problems that may ensue.
Much of the recent news in my neighborhood has been dominated
by mainstream media coverage of the removal of hydroelectric
dams on the Klamath River. This is the largest dam removal
undertaken in U.S. history, and NGOs, tribes and the states of
California and Oregon are understandably euphoric right now.
… Dam removal represents the peak of success for certain
environmental interests, and that bandwagon is overflowing now
with gushing supporters. However, the very unique circumstances
that led to the removal of the Klamath dams are often lost in
the media coverage. -Written by Dan Keppen, executive director of the Family
Farm Alliance.
A bill that allows farmers and ranchers who optimize their
water use to sell their conserved water for conservation
purposes without losing their water rights cleared the Utah
Legislature on Wednesday, as efforts to better track “saved”
water intensifies. The Utah House of Representatives voted 66-3
on Wednesday to adopt SB18 after the Senate approved
the measure with a 27-0 vote last month. The bill will head to
Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk for his signature. The vote happened
after members of the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and
Environment Committee unanimously voted to
advance HB448 earlier in the day. That bill would
require the Utah Division of Water Resources to monitor state
legislative water optimization efforts along the Great Salt
Lake, Colorado River and Sevier River basins, and report its
findings back to the state.
The small Kern-Tulare Water District moved forward recently in
breaking away from two other groundwater agencies to form its
own independent groundwater sustainability agency (GSA). As the
state’s historic Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)
turns 10 this year and the 2040 deadline to bring aquifers into
balance edges closer, groundwater agencies have splintered and
reformed throughout the southern San Joaquin Valley. Most
notably, the Kern Groundwater Authority which initially had 16
water district members, reorganized as most of those
members have broken off to form their own, or regional GSAs.
Kern-Tulare, which covers 19,600 acres, and straddles two water
subbasins and two counties, had always planned to go
independent …
The Biden administration announced Wednesday it has brokered a
“historic” agreement between tribes and farmers in the Klamath
Basin over chronic water shortages, a problem that
has fueled enduring water wars in the rural area along the
California-Oregon border. … The agreement is
technically a memorandum of understanding between the three
tribes, the Klamath Water Users Association and the Interior
Department. It does not lay out a new plan for how water
supplies will be allocated, which is the underlying source of
tension in the region. Instead, the deal calls for a wide range
of river and creek restoration work as well as the
modernization of agricultural infrastructure. It comes with $72
million of federal funding.
On a party-line vote, an Arizona Senate Committee approved a
bill Wednesday to establish a rural groundwater management
setup that’s favored by many farming interest groups but
opposed by many environmentalists and some rural community
leaders. The bill, introduced by Buckeye Republican Sen. Sine
Kerr, would establish a complex legal and governmental process
to designate groundwater basin management areas with the goal
of reducing groundwater depletion while maintaining the area’s
economy and agricultural base. The Republican-led Senate
Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee voted 4-3 to
support the measure. It would allow some mandatory conservation
measures while still protecting existing farmers’ groundwater
rights, as certified by the Arizona Department of Water
Resources. It would also appropriate $40 million to ADWR to pay
for unspecified measures for farmers to achieve better water
conservation.
While the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) is working hard to
ensure the reliability of our water supply, the district is
facing potential state regulations that would have dire
negative impacts for agriculture, our community, fire
protection, wildlife and aquatic habitat. State recommended
regulations would affect NID operations and service, decreasing
water supply and raising the cost of water to all customers if
implemented. The California State Water Resources Control Board
(State Water Board) is working to update an action plan to
improve water quality and save imperiled fish populations,
including salmon and delta smelt, in the San Francisco
Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Bay-Delta). … If
adopted, this alternative would effectively negate NID’s
long-standing water rights to the Yuba and Bear River systems.
A cascading effect would ensure a significant decrease in the
amount of water NID has available for its customers while
negatively impacting all aspects of the district’s operational
and financial viability.
-Written by Rich Johansen, president of the
Nevada Irrigation District.
Two Congressmen representing the Central Valley have introduced
measures to assist California communities ravaged by drought
and extreme heat, as well as to advance and promote policies
essential to U.S. agriculture. On Feb. 1, California Congress
Member David Valadao, R-22nd District, and Nevada Congress
Member Dina Titus, D-1st District, introduced the Water
Conservation Economic Adjustment Act (Act). According to a
press release from Valadao’s office, the bill “aims to make
additional resources available for regions experiencing adverse
economic changes caused by drought and extreme heat.” The Act
amends the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 by
adding environmental conditions that contribute to increased
water supplies, including drought and extreme heat, to the list
of events that may make communities eligible for financial
assistance.
Water, the essence of life, is an indispensable resource
intricately woven into the fabric of our daily existence. From
the food on our plates to the gadgets in our hands, water
silently plays a pivotal role in the creation of almost
everything we encounter. In a world where water scarcity is a
looming concern, it is essential to explore the profound impact
of water in the production of goods and services that shape our
lives as well as the food we feed our families. -Written by Mike Wade, executive director of the
California Farm Water Coalition
Danielle Veenstra is an almond grower as well as the senior
manager for reputation management and sustainability
communications for the Almond Board of California. She comments
on how the production of almonds uses much less water than you
think.
As California experiences hotter, drier temperatures due to
climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced the state’s
first strategy to protect and help restore salmon species to
reduce their risk of extinction. The California Salmon
Strategy, released last week, is a 37-page document that
outlines actions state agencies are already taking to stabilize
and recover salmon populations. It also maps out additional or
intensified actions needed in coming years. The document
identifies six priorities and 71 actions. The salmon strategy’s
priorities call for: removing barriers and modernizing
infrastructure for salmon migration; restoring habitat;
protecting water flows in key rivers at the right times;
modernizing hatcheries; transforming technology and management
systems; and strengthening partnerships.
When you drive through parts of rural Arizona, it’s hard to
imagine that cattle ranchers once came here for the grass. But
Eduardo Pagan, a history professor at Arizona State University,
says the state looked different a couple of centuries ago. …
Cattle ranching helped shape rural Arizona into what it is
today. It was one of the five C’s that once formed the backbone
of the state’s economy, along with copper, citrus, cotton and
climate. But many ideas we have about the history of
grazing are wrong, and researchers say that cattle have emerged
as a major driver of climate change. Conservationists say it’s
time to re-examine grazing on public lands. … Ranching
has changed the way wildfire moves across the landscape.
Ranching also helped introduce invasive plants, as new grasses
were planted to offset overgrazing. Grasslands have been turned
into deserts. Streambeds that once nourished shady cottonwoods
and willows bake in the sun after cows eat the young trees.
Wildfires burn bigger and hotter.
Join us June 18-20 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport for the 3ʳᵈ International Conference, Toward Sustainable Groundwater in Agriculture: Linking Science & Policy. Organized by the Water Education Foundation and the UC Davis Robert M. Hagan Endowed Chair, the conference will provide scientists, policymakers, agricultural and environmental interest group representatives, government officials and consultants with the latest scientific, management, legal and policy advances for sustaining our groundwater resources in agricultural regions around the world.
Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
1333 Bayshore Hwy
Burlingame, CA 94010
This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas Strip South
7830 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89123
This special Foundation water tour journeyed along the Eastern Sierra from the Truckee River to Mono Lake, through the Owens Valley and into the Mojave Desert to explore a major source of water for Southern California, this year’s snowpack and challenges for towns, farms and the environment.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues
associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
This tour traveled along the San Joaquin River to learn firsthand
about one of the nation’s largest and most expensive river
restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
Hampton Inn & Suites Fresno
327 E Fir Ave
Fresno, CA 93720
This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
This tour ventured through California’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s breadbasket thanks to an imported supply of surface water and local groundwater. Covering about 20,000 square miles through the heart of the state, the valley provides 25 percent of the nation’s food, including 40 percent of all fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed throughout the country.
The lower Colorado River has virtually every drop allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
This tour guided participants on a virtual exploration of the Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
This tour guided participants on a virtual journey deep into California’s most crucial water and ecological resource – the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The 720,000-acre network of islands and canals support the state’s two major water systems – the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project. The Delta and the connecting San Francisco Bay form the largest freshwater tidal estuary of its kind on the West coast.
This event explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs is the focus of this tour.
Silverton Hotel
3333 Blue Diamond Road
Las Vegas, NV 89139
This 2-day, 1-night tour offered participants the opportunity to
learn about water issues affecting California’s scenic Central
Coast and efforts to solve some of the challenges of a region
struggling to be sustainable with limited local supplies that
have potential applications statewide.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of Oroville Dam spillway
repairs.
We explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop
of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad
sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and
climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs was the focus of this tour.
Hampton Inn Tropicana
4975 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118
This three-day, two-night tour explored the lower Colorado River
where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand
is growing from myriad sources — increasing population,
declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs is the focus of this tour.
Best Western McCarran Inn
4970 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of repair efforts on the
Oroville Dam spillway.
Participants of this tour snaked along the San Joaquin River to
learn firsthand about one of the nation’s largest and most
expensive river restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
Groundwater replenishment happens
through direct recharge and in-lieu recharge. Water used for
direct recharge most often comes from flood flows, water
conservation, recycled water, desalination and water
transfers.
Water is expensive – and securing enough money to ensure
reliability and efficiency of the state’s water systems and
ecosystems is a constant challenge.
In 2014, California voters approved Proposition 1, authorizing a
$7.5 billion bond to fund water projects throughout the state.
This included investments in water storage, watershed protection
and restoration, groundwater sustainability and drinking water
protection.
California agriculture is going to have to learn to live with the
impacts of climate change and work toward reducing its
contributions of greenhouse gas emissions, a Yolo County walnut
grower said at the Jan. 26 California Climate Change Symposium in
Sacramento.
“I don’t believe we are going to be able to adapt our way out of
climate change,” said Russ Lester, co-owner of Dixon Ridge Farms
in Winters. “We need to mitigate for it. It won’t solve the
problem but it can slow it down.”
From the Greek “xeros” and Middle Dutch “scap,”
xeriscape was coined
in 1978 and literally translates to “dry scene.”
Xeriscaping, by extension, is making an environment which can
tolerate dryness. This involves installing drought-resistant and
slow-growing plants to reduce water use.
Irrigation is the artificial supply
of water to grow crops or plants. Obtained from either surface or groundwater, it optimizes
agricultural production when the amount of rain and where it
falls is insufficient. Different irrigation
systems are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but in
practical use are often combined. Much of the agriculture in
California and the West relies on irrigation.
Excess salinity poses a growing
threat to food production, drinking water quality and public
health. Salts increase the cost of urban drinking water and
wastewater treatment, which are paid for by residents and
businesses. Increasing salinity is likely the largest long-term
chronic water quality impairment to surface and groundwater in California’s Central
Valley.
California’s severe drought has put its water rights system under
scrutiny, raising the question whether a complete overhaul is
necessary to better allocate water use.
(Read the excerpt below from the July/August 2015 issue along
with the editor’s note. Click here
to subscribe to Western Water and get full access.)
Introduction
California’s severe drought has put its water rights system under
scrutiny, raising the question whether a complete overhaul is
necessary to better allocate water use.
This issue looks at remote sensing applications and how satellite
information enables analysts to get a better understanding of
snowpack, how much water a plant actually uses, groundwater
levels, levee stability and more.
This 3-day, 2-night tour, which we do every spring,
travels the length of the San Joaquin Valley, giving participants
a clear understanding of the State Water Project and Central
Valley Project.
Located just north of Fresno, the
Friant Dam helps deliver water as it runs towards the Merced River, though its
environmental impacts have caused controversy.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
agricultural water use – its successes, the planned state
regulation to quantify its efficiency and the potential for
greater savings.
This Western Water looks at proposed new measures to deal with
the century-old problem of salinity with a special focus on San
Joaquin Valley farms and cities.
The Reclamation Act of 1902, which could arguably be described as
a progression of the credo, Manifest Destiny, transformed the
West. This issue of Western Water provides a glimpse of the past
100 years of the Reclamation Act, from the early visionaries who
sought to turn the arid West into productive farmland, to the
modern day task of providing a limited amount of water to homes,
farms and the environment. Included are discussions of various
Bureau projects and what the next century may bring in terms of
challenges and success.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
With irrigation projects that import water, farmers have
transformed millions of acres of land into highly productive
fields and orchards. But the dry climate that provides an almost
year-round farming season can hasten salt build up in soils. The
build-up of salts in poorly drained soils can decrease crop
productivity, and there are links between drainage water from
irrigated fields and harmful impacts on fish and wildlife.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project provides
an overview of the California-funded and constructed State Water
Project.
The State Water Project is best known for the 444-mile-long
aqueduct that provides water from the Delta to San Joaquin Valley
agriculture and southern California cities. The guide contains
information about the project’s history and facilities.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as
the most thorough explanation of California water rights law
available to non-lawyers, traces the authority for water flowing
in a stream or reservoir, from a faucet or into an irrigation
ditch through the complex web of California water rights.
The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides
background information on water rights, types of transfers and
critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in
1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on
groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River
transfers and the role of private companies in California’s
developing water market.
Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced
fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.
The Water Education Foundation’s second edition of
the Layperson’s Guide to The Klamath River Basin is
hot off the press and available for purchase.
Updated and redesigned, the easy-to-read overview covers the
history of the region’s tribal, agricultural and environmental
relationships with one of the West’s largest rivers — and a
vast watershed that hosts one of the nation’s oldest and
largest reclamation projects.
There are two constants regarding agricultural water use –
growers will continue to come up with ever more efficient and
innovative ways to use water and they will always be pressed to
do more.
It’s safe to say the matter will not be settled anytime soon,
given all the complexities that are a part of the water use
picture today. While officials and stakeholders grapple to find a
lasting solution to California’s water problems that balances
environmental and economic needs, those who grow food and fiber
for a living do so amid a host of challenges.
Land retirement is a practice that takes agricultural lands out
of production due to poor drainage and soils containing high
levels of salt and selenium (a mineral found in soil).
Typically, landowners are paid to retire land. The purchaser,
often a local water district, then places a deed restriction on
the land to prevent growing crops with irrigation water (a source
of salt). Growers in some cases may continue to farm using rain
water, a method known as dry farming.
Evaporation ponds contain agricultural drainage water and are
used when agricultural growers do not have access to rivers for
drainage disposal.
Drainage water is the only source of water in many of these
ponds, resulting in extremely high concentrations of salts.
Concentrations of other trace elements such as selenium are also
elevated in evaporation basins, with a wide degree of variability
among basins.
Such ponds resemble wetland areas that birds use for nesting and
feeding grounds and may pose risks to waterfowl and shorebirds.
The Coachella Valley in Southern California’s Inland Empire is
one of several valleys throughout the state with a water district
established to support agriculture.
Like the others, the Coachella Valley Water District in Riverside
County delivers water to arid agricultural lands and constructs,
operates and maintains a regional agricultural drainage system.
These systems collect drainage water from individual farm drain
outlets and convey the water to a point of reuse, disposal or
dilution.