As the single largest water-consuming industry, agriculture has
become a focal point for efforts to promote water conservation.
The drive for water use efficiency has become institutionalized
in agriculture through numerous federal, state and local
programs. Since the 1980s, some water districts serving
agricultural areas have developed extensive water conservation
programs to help their customers (From Aquapedia).
Healthy soil is a potent tool to combat the impacts of drought
on farms and ranches. By using conservation practices that
build healthy soil—like cover cropping, conservation tillage,
and compost—growers increase the natural water storage
potential of their land. Healthy soil captures more water when
it rains and holds onto that water for future crop use,
allowing farms with healthy soil to deliver stable yields, even
in drought years.
A proposed fee system to manage irrigated land in Madera County
has sparked a successful protest, leaving one groundwater
agency unfunded and at least one farmer claiming the process
was done with minimal notice. … Three newly formed
groundwater sustainable agencies — Chowchilla Subbasin, the
Madera Subbasin and the Delta Mendota Subbasin — are left with
no funding for four ongoing groundwater projects required under
California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. It’s the
County of Madera that oversees the land, said Stephanie
Anagnason, director of water and natural resources for Madera
County.
The Public Policy Institute of California is sparking new
conversations around innovative alternatives to keep farmland
in production and avoid devastating environmental and health
impacts from fallowing as much as a million acres of land under
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. PPIC has embarked
on the first major research endeavor to investigate options for
keeping farmers farming and for the complex policymaking needed
to finance and expedite a suite of farming practices and
regulatory restructuring. The hope is it would build some
flexibility into California’s highly specialized agricultural
system.
Rural residents in Tulare County are more likely to be exposed
to harmful water than a third of the state’s population and the
State Water Board has been slow to flow funds into areas to fix
failing water systems. A report by the California State Auditor
last month revealed Tulare County was among nine counties in
the state that represented almost 90% of Californians
vulnerable to water systems with poor water quality.
As California’s prolonged drought continues, the State is at a
crossroads. Recent headlines have been dominated
by devastating wildfires and a growing number of the
State’s poorest communities without water. These
catastrophic conditions demand answers and solutions from our
leaders. … With the cost of living continuing to climb,
the San Joaquin Valley’s most vibrant sector – agriculture –
cannot continue to feed our communities, state, nation, or the
world, if we do not have the most basic resource necessary to
grow food, water. -Written by William Bourdeau, executive vice
president of Harris Farms, director of the Westlands Water
District, and chairman of the Valley Future
Foundation.
Rising river levels? It’s been a surprising sight in recent
days for people out along the American River. California is in
year three of a severe drought and people are being asked to
conserve, but water releases from Folsom Dam are being
dramatically increased this week. Parts of the American River
Parkway that had been dry ground just a few days ago are now
covered with water, which is something surprising to many
people along the shoreline.
Change is coming to farming in the San Joaquin Valley. Because
of the need to reduce groundwater pumping to comply with the
2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, we’ve estimated
that at least 500,000 acres of farmland will need to come out
of irrigated production in the coming years. This is a major
shift for California’s agricultural heartland, and one that
will have profound impacts on the region’s residents, workers,
economy, and environment. -Written by Caitlin Peterson, associate director and
research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California’s
Water Policy Center.
Solar-powered weather stations that beam real-time information
to farmers are the first investment for Galvanize Climate
Solutions, the firm launched last year by billionaire Tom
Steyer and Katie Hall to battle climate change. Galvanize led a
$40-million funding round for San Francisco-based Arable, whose
weather equipment gives farmers information on how much
sunlight and water crops are getting, and can help optimize
when to irrigate or fertilize. Such visibility is becoming
increasingly important amid tight on-farm labor and with
drought shrinking water reserves.
Two agencies in the San Joaquin Valley are closer to funding
water conservation projects thanks to an $800,000 grant from
the Bureau of Reclamation. The money comes from the
Bureau’s Agricultural Water and Conservation Efficiency
grants. About $362,000 will go to the Corcoran Irrigation
District in Kings County and $430,000 will go to the Lost Hills
Water District in Kern County. The money will partially
fund projects aimed at water savings and streamlining water
transportation and storage. The rest of the funding will come
from local contributions.
As I drive across my family’s farm in the San Joaquin Valley,
it feels as if I’m traveling on a chessboard. I cross one
square with crops and then another without crops — our fields
that must lay fallow. Our farm’s crops have been decimated by
the drought. Last year, reduced water deliveries in the state
led to 395,000 acres of cropland being idled, according to UC
Merced researchers, and about 8,750 agricultural workers lost
their jobs. … Without enough water, farmers in
California can’t survive. The state’s aging water supply
infrastructure has not kept up with the growth of the
state. -Written by Joe L. Del Bosque, CEO and president
of the family-owned Del Bosque Farms in the San Joaquin
Valley.
As local gardeners and farmers look for ways to keep their
fruit trees alive while meeting water conservation goals, they
can consider the water savings gained by applying organic
mulch, as documented in an influential 1999 University of
California study. The study’s findings and recommendations have
gained relevance today as water supplies tighten and watering
restrictions take effect during the severe drought.
… Rather than promoting growth, the main purposes of
mulch are to reduce erosion, suppress weed growth, moderate
soil temperature, and save water by retaining soil
moisture. -Written by David Goldstein, an environmental resource
analyst with the Ventura County Public Works Agency
Ute Mountain Ute irrigation manager Michael Vicenti looked out
from his reservation — toward the Navajos’ sacred “winged rock”
and across the arid Southwest — then focused in front of his
feet on three-foot-high stalks of blue corn. They stood
straight. But these growing stalks, established on one inch of
water per week, now would require twice that much. And Vicenti
winced, confiding doubts about whether Ute farming can endure
in a hotter, drier world. Each evening he calls operators of
McPhee Reservoir to set the flow into a 39-mile clay canal —
the Utes’ only source of water — and makes a difficult choice.
Either he saves scarce water or he saves corn.
In the middle of 300 acres of picturesque hay meadows just
north of Kremmling, not far from the headwaters of the Colorado
River, a metal pillar surrounded by fencing rises 10 feet from
the ground. It looks something like a miniature cellphone tower
with various technical instruments and antennas jutting out at
the top. … It is providing farmers and researchers
with critical information about how much water Colorado
agriculture could potentially conserve in the drought-stricken
West.
When we picture California agriculture, we tend to think of
almond and citrus orchards and the massive tracts of strawberry
and lettuce fields that we can see from the highways dividing
the western part of the state from the east. But dairy is, in
fact, king. There are an estimated 1.7 million cows living on
dairy farms in California, and the industry brought in $7.5
billion in 2020, including $2 billion in export sales. And
because most people in the state don’t see the abundance of
dairy farms—most of them function like feedlots surrounded by
fields of feed crops such as alfalfa and corn growing
nearby—they may not be aware of the fact that they use millions
of gallons of water a day.
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
As California embarks on its unprecedented mission to harness groundwater pumping, the Arizona desert may provide one guide that local managers can look to as they seek to arrest years of overdraft.
Groundwater is stressed by a demand that often outpaces natural and artificial recharge. In California, awareness of groundwater’s importance resulted in the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 that aims to have the most severely depleted basins in a state of balance in about 20 years.
The message is oft-repeated that
water must be conserved and used as wisely as possible.
The California Water Code calls water use efficiency “the
efficient management of water resources for beneficial uses,
preventing waste, or accomplishing additional benefits with the
same amount of water.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
As the single largest water-consuming industry, agriculture has
become a focal point for efforts to promote water conservation.
In turn, discussions about agricultural water use often become
polarized.
With this in mind, the drive for water use
efficiency has become institutionalized in agriculture
through numerous federal, state and local programs.
