The Central Valley is a vital agricultural region that dominates
the center of California, stretching 40-60 miles east to west and
about 450 miles from north to south. It covers 22,500
square miles, about 13.7% of California’s total land area.
Key watersheds are located here: The Sacramento Valley in the
north, San Joaquin Valley and Tulare Basin to the south. In
addition, the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers drain their
respective valleys and meet to form the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Bay Delta, which flows to the Pacific Ocean via the San Francisco
Bay.
Actions to bring spawning salmon into Putah Creek will start
earlier than ever this fall. The Los Rios Check Dam boards will
be pulled on Oct. 18. … By pulling the boards early, the
fish are not just waiting around and can get to the spawning
grounds on the creek. That could give the Nov. 4 Salmon
Festival in Winters a good showing of fish.
Potent winter storms, summer heat, and tropical storm Hilary
have bred a surge of invasive, day-biting Aedes mosquitoes in
California, spawning in some regions the first reported human
cases of West Nile virus in years. The statewide rise has
brought 153 West Nile reports so far, more than double last
year’s, according to the California Department of Public
Health.
Fall officially begins Friday night, and Northern California
will certainly feel the changing of the seasons this week. A
mix of weather conditions is in store from the Bay Area to the
Sierra Nevada. The Bay Area will see partly cloudy skies with
seasonal temperatures through Wednesday, but changes are coming
for the second half of the week. By Thursday, north winds are
expected to clear out skies and elevate the fire risk in the
Sacramento Valley. However, these winds will bring chilly air
to the mountains, possibly cool enough for the first snowflakes
of the season in the high Sierra.
Successful implementation of the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA) is vital to the long-term health of the
San Joaquin Valley’s communities, agriculture, environment, and
economy. But the transition will be challenging. Even with
robust efforts to augment water supplies through activities
like groundwater recharge, significant land fallowing will be
necessary. How the valley manages that fallowing will be
paramount to protecting the region’s residents—including the
growers and rural, low-income communities who will be most
directly impacted by the changes. With coordinated planning and
robust incentives, the valley can navigate the difficult water
and land transitions coming its way and put itself on a path to
a productive and sustainable future.
While large tracts of farmland were underwater this spring,
prices for Valley crops are on the rise as California soil and
growers prove to be resilient once again. California’s tomato
processors reported they have or will have contracts for 12.7
million tons of processing tomatoes for 2023, the highest
number of contracted planted acres since 2016. This production
estimate is 2.4% higher than the January intentions forecast of
12.4 million tons, and 21.4% above the final contracted
production total in 2022. The May contracted acreage of 254,000
is 2.4% above the January intentions forecast of 248,000 acres
and 24,000 acres more than last year’s final contracted
acreage.
Change is coming to the heavily agricultural San Joaquin
Valley. We know that a combination of climate change, new
environmental regulations, and especially the implementation of
the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) are
leading to a decline in water available for irrigation. (By
2040, overall farm supplies in the valley could drop by as much
as 20%—and irrigated cropland by nearly 900,000 acres.) But
what we haven’t known is how these changes could impact farms
of different sizes in the valley—and there is understandable
concern about how the shift will play out, particularly for
smaller farms that have fewer resources and capacity to adapt.
A mosquito breed known for carrying yellow fever and other
diseases has been spotted in portions of the San Joaquin
Valley. Last week, the San Joaquin County Mosquito and Vector
Control District said high numbers of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
have shown up in traps around South Stockton, Manteca, Escalon
and Ripon. The mosquitoes have also popped up in Butte and
Glenn counties this summer. Like the majority of other
mosquitoes that live here, Aedes aegypti are not native to the
state. They’re also relatively new to California, having first
shown up in traps in 2011, according to the state’s Department
of Public Health.
Reservoirs across the state of California remain
elevated as another wet season approaches. Following
the record wet winter, lakes and reservoirs were nearly full to
the brim as the melting snowpack made its way into them.
Following the melt-off period, Lake Shasta — the keystone of
the Central Valley Project — was at 98% capacity,
Oroville was at 100% capacity, and Folsom Lake was nearly full
as well at 95% capacity. These bodies of water were quite
parched heading into the winter due to the three years of
drought preceding the past winter’s deluge and ranged from
25-32% capacity before the atmospheric river events rolled in.
California will spend about $300 million to prepare a vast
groundwater and farming infrastructure system for the growing
impacts of climate change. California Department of Water
Resources announced Tuesday that it has awarded $187
million to 32 groundwater sub-basins, which store water for
future use that mainly flows from valuable snowmelt, through
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Grant
Program. Governor Gavin Newsom also announced
Tuesday that California’s Department of Food and
Agriculture will award more than $106 million in grants to 23
organizations, which will design and implement new carbon
sequestration and irrigation efficiency projects.
Here is NOAA’s list of these 23 disasters, in chronological
order, along with their latest damage estimates. 1. California
Flooding ($4.6 billion): A parade of Pacific storms began just
after Christmas 2022 and lasted into March, dumping flooding
rain in parts of Northern California and the Central Valley, as
well as feet of record snowfall in parts of the Sierra and
Southern California high country. … 15. Late June Severe
Weather ($3.5 billion): This siege of storms from June
21-26 began in the High Plains, including destructive
hailstorms in Colorado, one of which injured almost 100
concertgoers near Denver, and a deadly tornado in
Matador, Texas.
More than a thousand people have recently signed a new petition
to ask the Pleasanton City Council and city staff to postpone
the upcoming decision to increase water rates. The
petition on change.org, which cites just over 1,600 signatures
as of Wednesday morning, claims that city officials have not
done a good job communicating accurate information about their
proposal — which is a shared concern among some
residents. Resident concerns were heightened after the
city sent out a state-mandated public notice brochure,
which many said was very confusing to read and understand.
Several residents, like Jocelyn Combs, even pointed out
formatting errors that made the document difficult to follow.
Today is California Biodiversity Day, which marks the
anniversary of the launch of California Biodiversity
Initiative in 2018 and celebrates our amazing state, the
exceptional biodiversity we have in the Sacramento Valley and
throughout California, and the actions we can work on with our
many partners to ensure biodiversity. In the Sacramento Valley,
our goal is to promote functioning ecosystems and sustainable
water supplies by preserving, sustaining, and promoting our
communities and working agricultural landscapes that support
ecosystem function and provide landscape-scale habitat benefits
for fish, bird, and wildlife populations.
With California facing a hotter and drier future — punctuated
by bouts of extreme weather — state officials are moving
forward with a new framework for urban water use that could
require some suppliers to make cuts of 20% or more as soon as
2025. Many of the suppliers facing the harshest cuts are
located in the Central Valley and in the southeastern part of
the state — large, hot and primarily rural areas that have
historically struggled to meet conservation targets. … The
move marks a shift away from the one-size-fits-all approach
that has governed California water for years. If adopted, the
new rules would require the state’s more than 400 urban water
suppliers to come up with a new water-use budget every year
beginning in 2025. They could face hefty fines for failing to
comply or meet their targets.
Most statewide California candidates blow off the Central
Valley. There are more votes and media — and donors, of
course — on the coast. But not this year. The Central
Valley is up for grabs for Senate candidates vying to replace
Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The top three Democrats — who
represent coastal districts in Los Angeles, Orange County and
the Bay Area and aren’t well known in almond country —
made a beeline last Saturday from a major union endorsement
interview in Los Angeles to a $25-a-head fundraiser hosted by
Rep. Josh Harder along the Stockton waterfront. … But while
they’re all showing up to campaign in the Valley, none has
crafted a position on a crucial aspect of the issue in
America’s breadbasket that could give them an advantage over
their rivals: water. Specifically, the Delta tunnel, the
proposed 45-mile conveyance tunnel through the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta.
Watermelon season has been a tough one this year after a late
start due to the weather. VP of Crops and Soils at Van
Groningen & Sons Incorporated, Bryan Van Groningen said their
planting was delayed about three weeks back in Spring.
Plantings usually go in around the middle of March, but this
year the earliest plantings did not start until the first week
of April. “At one time we had almost one million
transplants sitting in greenhouses in the last couple weeks of
March that were ready to be planted and we had no place to
plant them because the fields were too wet,” Van Groningen.
West Nile virus infections are on the rise this year in
California after a particularly wet winter led to more mosquito
reproduction, according to health experts. The state had 55
human cases of the virus as of Aug. 25. Five of them were
fatal, according to the California Mosquito-Borne Virus
Surveillance and Response Program. That’s more than double the
24 cases that had occurred in 2022 by late August of that year.
In total in 2022, there were 207 cases and 15 deaths. Among
California’s latest infections, a woman in Orange tested
positive for the West Nile virus this week, becoming the
first human case in Orange County this year, according to the
county Health Care Agency. The Orange resident wasn’t
experiencing any symptoms.
State Senator Melissa Hurtado and Congressman John Garamendi
are sounding the alarm on the dangers of when billionaire
investors gobble up ag land. On Aug. 29, Senator Hurtado, 16th
District and chair of the State Agriculture Committee, hosted
an informational hearing at the State Capitol to discuss the
unprecedented land purchases in Solano County by Flannery
Associates LLC; and to explore possible remedies to prevent
private entities and foreign governments from acquiring
California agricultural land. … “I don’t think it’s
about building a city,” Hurtado said. “I think it’s about water
and energy.” She mentioned the state’s futures water market. In
2020, California became the first state to create a futures
market for water. With water in the futures market, this means
investors are able to trade water the same way they have things
like gold, or oil.
West Nile virus cases have been increasing in Northern
California. The West Nile virus is the most common and serious
vector-borne disease in the state. There were 29 new West Nile
Virus cases in humans last week, bringing the total for the
year to 55 cases. Those cases have been reported in Glenn,
Lake, Butte, Yolo, El Dorado, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Santa
Clara, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Kings, Tulare, Kern, Los
Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. On Wednesday,
another human case in Roseville became the first this summer in
Placer County. Five people with the virus have died, including
one person in Sacramento County and another person in Yolo
County.
As implementation of the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA) proceeds, it’s no secret that the San
Joaquin Valley will have to adapt to a future with less water
for irrigation. Our research shows that overall irrigation
supplies may decline by as much as 20% by 2040. Land uses will
have to change, and some have raised concerns that SGMA’s
implementation could put smaller farms at a disadvantage, given
their more limited resources and capacity. To gain insight on
these issues, we conducted a detailed geographical analysis of
cropping patterns and water conditions by farm size on the San
Joaquin Valley floor, using county real estate records on
ownership of agricultural parcels (individual properties of
varying sizes) to identify farms.
Workers across California are grappling with yet another
climate change-induced threat: a rapidly spreading fungus
that can land its unsuspecting victims with
prolonged flu-like symptoms, or far worse. The culprit is a
soil-dwelling organism called coccidioides, which is now
spreading the disease coccidioidomycosis — known as “Valley
fever” — farther and farther north of its Southwest origins.
Rather than spreading from person to person, Valley
fever results from the direct inhalation of fungal
spores — spores climate change is now allowing to flourish
in new places.
What is going on? There have been four West Nile-related deaths
in California this year, including the one confirmed case in
San Bernardino County. Cases are being reported as far north as
Lake County and as far south as Imperial. So far this year 55
people have tested positive — over half were reported just last
week. What can I do? The solution is easy, simple and cheap:
Wear insect repellent. It has the added bonus of fewer itchy
mosquito bites as well as protecting your health. Stop
mosquitoes from laying eggs in or near standing water. Dump any
standing water around your house, such as in flower pots, tires
or buckets to keep mosquitoes from breeding. Check and repair
holes in screens to keep mosquitoes outdoors.
The Central Valley of California only contains 1% of U.S.
farmland, but generates 8% of the country’s agricultural output
and produces a quarter of the nation’s food. Much of this
astounding production comes from the 8,500 square kilometers of
farmland in the Sacramento River watershed, which covers the
northern portion of the Central Valley. This extensive farmland
means that the watershed is exposed to a significant amount of
compounds commonly used in farming, including pesticides. As
water flows over the land to streams and rivers, it carries
these contaminants along with it, ultimately dumping them in
waterways and floodplains, where they often make their way into
the food web. Consequently, juvenile Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) feeding and rearing within the
watershed can be exposed to these harmful compounds.
Cattle producers who own and manage land in Butte, Colusa,
Glenn, and Tehama counties are gravely concerned with the
approach adopted by the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
(GSAs) in our respective basin/counties. In every basin,
non-extractors (or de minimis users who only pump stock water)
are being assessed acreage fees by the GSA to generate the
funding required to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA). Cattle producers are predominantly
rangeland operations that do not use groundwater, and in fact,
serve as a net recharge zone for the basins.
For most of the state, the drought is over. The Central Valley
is receiving their full state water supply allocation and
farmers don’t need to pull water from the ground to keep their
crops from dying of thirst. But that doesn’t mean the
signs along Interstate 5 and Highway 99 grumbling about the
“Politicians Created Water Crisis” and the Valley’s man-made
dust bowl, and asking if “Growing Food Is Wasting Water?”
should be taken down. The abundance won’t last forever, and the
farmers eventually will be back where they were before record
rain and snow provided them with a bounty of life-giving water.
That could be avoided, though, if policymakers got busy
building needed water infrastructure. -Written by Kerry Jackson, a fellow with the
Center for California Reform at the Pacific Research
Institute.
Ducks Unlimited and its scientific partners have several
studies planned or underway to study waterfowl and their
habitats in the Pacific Flyway. … The lack of floodplain
habitat for salmon and other migratory fish in the Sacramento
Valley in California has contributed to their decline. As a
result, there are proposals to manage floodplain habitats to
benefit fish. This study, led by a team in Ducks Unlimited’s
Western Region, will determine the effects of floodplain
reactivation for fish on waterfowl and Sacramento Valley
waterfowl hunting.
Somewhere in California, two small water districts propose to
leave a big agency that has long provided the water for another
that can provide the very same supply. They agree to hire an
outside expert to help a county commission find a fair
financial solution. The expert recommends an exit fee of sorts
if the water districts want to leave. The commission goes along
with the expert. And now the big agency has come to Sacramento
looking to abuse the state legislative process in order to undo
a perfectly legal local decision. These water districts all
happen to be in San Diego County. But this is an abuse of power
that can happen anywhere if the Legislature gets into a
dangerous habit of changing local decisions about boundaries
and governance simply because a powerful government in town
wants a different outcome. -Written by Tom Kennedy, general manager of the
Rainbow Municipal Water District; and Jack Bebee, the
general manager of the Fallbrook Public Utility District.
California health officials are warning of a potential
increased risk of valley fever, a respiratory disease caused by
fungus that grows in soil across many parts of the state. This
winter’s heavy rains may have caused an increase in the growth
of the Coccidioides fungus, which causes valley fever, the
California Department of Public Health announced in a press
release. Valley fever occurs when dust containing the fungus is
inhaled, leading to respiratory symptoms that can turn severe
or even fatal. Periods of heavy rain can cause
the Coccidioides fungus to become more active, according
to research conducted by the University of California,
Berkeley and CDPH. That means valley fever cases could spike in
the coming months, as spores that grew during this year’s
record rainfall dry out and become airborne in dust.
Ahead of an annual US Department of Agriculture estimate for
California walnut production, the outlook is far more positive
in 2023, according to the California Walnut Board. In an update
published Aug. 9, the CWB credited heavy rains over a long
period last winter for restoring subsoil moisture and providing
“for healthy root zones, enabling trees to better tolerate late
season high temperatures,” the CWB said. Extensive snowpack
also helped sustain the trees during the growing season.
Rainfall, caused by atmospheric rivers in California, was
intense from the first of the year through late March,
affecting large areas of Southern California, the Central Coast
of California and northern parts of the state.
One of the most famous, though possibly apocryphal, quotes to
come out of the Vietnam War appeared in a Feb. 7, 1968,
Associated Press report. It quoted an unnamed “United States
Major” explaining why U.S. forces leveled the Vietnamese town
of Ben Tre—in one succinct, memorable turn of phrase: “It
became necessary to destroy the town to save it,” the major
reportedly commented. The quote lives on because, real or
not, it seemed to perfectly encapsulate the absurdity of
military logic. … But the quote didn’t apply only to the
military. In fact, it could easily be applied to the
large-scale public improvement project that built much of what
California is today—via a process known as “land reclamation.”
The reclamation projects of the late 19th and early 20th
century turned the so-called swamps of California’s Central
Valley into some of the country’s most fertile
agricultural land—but in the process, destroyed or damaged 90
percent of the wetlands that were the natural habitat for
hundreds of species of birds, mammals, reptiles and
many other kinds of life.
Sacramento Valley leaders are seeking input on a document
providing a macro-view of the approach underway to benefit
Chinook salmon in the region. A Holistic Approach for Healthy
Rivers and Landscapes in the Sacramento River Basin is an
overview of the amazing efforts underway from ridgetop to river
mouth in every part of the Sacramento Valley to “give salmon a
chance” by improving freshwater conditions for each life-stage
of all four runs of Chinook salmon.
A new underground mapping technology
that reveals the best spots for storing surplus water in
California’s Central Valley is providing a big boost to the
state’s most groundwater-dependent communities.
The maps provided by the California Department of Water Resources
for the first time pinpoint paleo valleys and similar prime
underground storage zones traditionally found with some guesswork
by drilling exploratory wells and other more time-consuming
manual methods. The new maps are drawn from data on the
composition of underlying rock and soil gathered by low-flying
helicopters towing giant magnets.
The unique peeks below ground are saving water agencies’
resources and allowing them to accurately devise ways to capture
water from extreme storms and soak or inject the surplus
underground for use during the next drought.
“Understanding where you’re putting and taking water from really
helps, versus trying to make multimillion-dollar decisions based
on a thumb and which way the wind is blowing,” said Aaron Fukuda,
general manager of the Tulare Irrigation District, an early
adopter of the airborne electromagnetic or
AEM technology in California.
Managers of California’s most
overdrawn aquifers were given a monumental task under the state’s
landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: Craft viable,
detailed plans on a 20-year timeline to bring their beleaguered
basins into balance. It was a task that required more than 250
newly formed local groundwater agencies – many of them in the
drought-stressed San Joaquin Valley – to set up shop, gather
data, hear from the public and collaborate with neighbors on
multiple complex plans, often covering just portions of a
groundwater basin.
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.
Land and waterway managers labored
hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly
rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their
water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing
some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore
the state’s major floodplains.
Biologists have designed a variety
of unique experiments in the past decade to demonstrate the
benefits that floodplains provide for small fish. Tracking
studies have used acoustic tags to show that chinook salmon
smolts with access to inundated fields are more likely than their
river-bound cohorts to reach the Pacific Ocean. This is because
the richness of floodplains offers a vital buffet of nourishment
on which young salmon can capitalize, supercharging their growth
and leading to bigger, stronger smolts.
A government agency that controls much of California’s water
supply released its initial allocation for 2021, and the
numbers reinforced fears that the state is falling into another
drought. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Tuesday that most
of the water agencies that rely on the Central Valley Project
will get just 5% of their contract supply, a dismally low
number. Although the figure could grow if California gets more
rain and snow, the allocation comes amid fresh weather
forecasts suggesting the dry winter is continuing. The National
Weather Service says the Sacramento Valley will be warm and
windy the next few days, with no rain in the forecast.
The bill is coming due, literally,
to protect and restore groundwater in California.
Local agencies in the most depleted groundwater basins in
California spent months putting together plans to show how they
will achieve balance in about 20 years.
Deep, throaty cadenced calls —
sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands,
farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each
year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the
Cosumnes River Preserve,
46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Shortly after taking office in 2019,
Gov. Gavin Newsom called on state agencies to deliver a Water
Resilience Portfolio to meet California’s urgent challenges —
unsafe drinking water, flood and drought risks from a changing
climate, severely depleted groundwater aquifers and native fish
populations threatened with extinction.
Within days, he appointed Nancy Vogel, a former journalist and
veteran water communicator, as director of the Governor’s Water
Portfolio Program to help shepherd the monumental task of
compiling all the information necessary for the portfolio. The
three state agencies tasked with preparing the document delivered
the draft Water Resilience Portfolio Jan. 3. The document, which
Vogel said will help guide policy and investment decisions
related to water resilience, is nearing the end of its comment
period, which goes through Friday, Feb. 7.
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.
To survive the next drought and meet
the looming demands of the state’s groundwater sustainability
law, California is going to have to put more water back in the
ground. But as other Western states have found, recharging
overpumped aquifers is no easy task.
Successfully recharging aquifers could bring multiple benefits
for farms and wildlife and help restore the vital interconnection
between groundwater and rivers or streams. As local areas around
California draft their groundwater sustainability plans, though,
landowners in the hardest hit regions of the state know they will
have to reduce pumping to address the chronic overdraft in which
millions of acre-feet more are withdrawn than are naturally
recharged.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
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.
The San Joaquin Valley, known as the
nation’s breadbasket, grows a cornucopia of fruits, nuts and
other agricultural products.
During our three-day Central Valley Tour April
3-5, you will meet farmers who will explain how they prepare
the fields, irrigate their crops and harvest the produce that
helps feed the nation and beyond. We also will drive through
hundreds of miles of farmland and visit the rivers, dams,
reservoirs and groundwater wells that provide the water.
The whims of political fate decided
in 2018 that state bond money would not be forthcoming to help
repair the subsidence-damaged parts of Friant-Kern Canal, the
152-mile conduit that conveys water from the San Joaquin River to
farms that fuel a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy along
the east side of the fertile San Joaquin Valley.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
The Colorado River Basin is more
than likely headed to unprecedented shortage in 2020 that could
force supply cuts to some states, but work is “furiously”
underway to reduce the risk and avert a crisis, Bureau of
Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman told an audience of
California water industry people.
During a keynote address at the Water Education Foundation’s
Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento, Burman said there is
opportunity for Colorado River Basin states to control their
destiny, but acknowledged that in water, there are no guarantees
that agreement can be reached.
Farmers in the Central Valley are broiling about California’s plan to increase flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to help struggling salmon runs avoid extinction. But in one corner of the fertile breadbasket, River Garden Farms is taking part in some extraordinary efforts to provide the embattled fish with refuge from predators and enough food to eat.
And while there is no direct benefit to one farm’s voluntary actions, the belief is what’s good for the fish is good for the farmers.
More than a decade in the making, an
ambitious plan to deal with the vexing problem of salt and
nitrates in the soils that seep into key groundwater basins of
the Central Valley is moving toward implementation. But its
authors are not who you might expect.
An unusual collaboration of agricultural interests, cities, water
agencies and environmental justice advocates collaborated for
years to find common ground to address a set of problems that
have rendered family wells undrinkable and some soil virtually
unusable for farming.
New water storage is the holy grail
primarily for agricultural interests in California, and in 2014
the door to achieving long-held ambitions opened with the passage
of Proposition
1, which included $2.7 billion for the public benefits
portion of new reservoirs and groundwater storage projects. The
statute stipulated that the money is specifically for the
benefits that a new storage project would offer to the ecosystem,
water quality, flood control, emergency response and recreation.
For more than 100 years, invasive
species have made the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta their home,
disrupting the ecosystem and costing millions of dollars annually
in remediation.
The latest invader is the nutria, a large rodent native to South
America that causes concern because of its propensity to devour
every bit of vegetation in sight and destabilize levees by
burrowing into them. Wildlife officials are trapping the animal
and trying to learn the extent of its infestation.
Deep, throaty cadenced calls —
sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands,
farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each
year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the
Cosumnes River Preserve,
46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Along the banks of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Oakley, about 50 miles southwest
of Sacramento, is a park that harkens back to the days when the
Delta lured Native Americans, Spanish explorers, French fur
trappers, and later farmers to its abundant wildlife and rich
soil.
That historical Delta was an enormous marsh linked to the two
freshwater rivers entering from the north and south, and tidal
flows coming from the San Francisco Bay. After the Gold Rush,
settlers began building levees and farms, changing the landscape
and altering the habitat.
Despite the heat that often
accompanies debates over setting aside water for the environment,
there are instances where California stakeholders have forged
agreements to provide guaranteed water for fish. Here are two
examples cited by the Public Policy Institute of California in
its report arguing for an environmental water right.
Get a unique view of the San Joaquin Valley’s key dams and
reservoirs that store and transport water on our March Central
Valley Tour.
Our Central Valley
Tour, March 14-16, offers a broad view of water issues
in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition to the farms, orchards,
critical habitat for threatened bird populations, flood bypasses
and a national wildlife refuge, we visit some of California’s
major water infrastructure projects.
The 2-day, 1-night tour traveled along the river from Friant
Dam near Fresno to the confluence of the Merced River. As it
weaved across an historic farming region, participants learn
about the status of the river’s restoration and how the
challenges of the plan are being worked out.
Our tours are famous for not only being packed with diverse
educational opportunities about California water, but showcasing
local culture. Our Central Valley Tour on March
8-10 lets you unwind at a few San Joaquin Valley treasures and
hear stories that go back generations.
Our water tours give a behind-the-scenes look at major water
issues in California. On our Central Valley Tour, March
8-10, you will visit wildlife habitat areas – some of which are
closed to the public – and learn directly from the experts who
manage them, in addition to seeing farms, large dams and other
infrastructure.
The recent deluge has led to changes in drought conditions in
some areas of California and even public scrutiny of the
possibility that the drought is over. Many eyes are focused on
the San Joaquin Valley, one of the areas hardest hit by reduced
surface water supplies. On our Central Valley Tour, March
8-10, we will visit key water delivery and storage sites in the
San Joaquin Valley, including Friant Dam and Millerton Lake
on the San Joaquin River.
The San Joaquin Valley has been hit hard by the six-year drought
and related surface water cutbacks. Some land has been fallowed
and groundwater pumping has increased. What does this year hold?
Will these recent heavy storms provide enough surface water for
improved water deliveries?
Your best opportunity to see and understand this vital
agricultural region of California is to join us on our annual
Central Valley Tour,
March 8-10.
ARkStorm stands for an atmospheric
river (“AR”) that carries precipitation levels expected to occur
once every 1,000 years (“k”). The concept was presented in a 2011
report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) intended to elevate
the visibility of the very real threats to human life, property
and ecosystems posed by extreme storms on the West Coast.
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.
A new era of groundwater management
began in 2014 with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), which aims for local and regional agencies
to develop and implement sustainable groundwater management
plans with the state as the backstop.
SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the
“management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be
maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without
causing undesirable results.”
This 30-minute documentary, produced in 2011, explores the past,
present and future of flood management in California’s Central
Valley. It features stories from residents who have experienced
the devastating effects of a California flood firsthand.
Interviews with long-time Central Valley water experts from
California Department of Water Resources (FloodSAFE), U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Central Valley Flood
Management Program and environmental groups are featured as they
discuss current efforts to improve the state’s 150-year old flood
protection system and develop a sustainable, integrated, holistic
flood management plan for the Central Valley.
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
Salt. In a small amount, it’s a gift from nature. But any doctor
will tell you, if you take in too much salt, you’ll start to have
health problems. The same negative effect is happening to land in
the Central Valley. The problem scientists call “salinity” poses
a growing threat to our food supply, our drinking water quality
and our way of life. The problem of salt buildup and potential –
but costly – solutions are highlighted in this 2008 public
television documentary narrated by comedian Paul Rodriguez.
A 20-minute version of the 2008 public television documentary
Salt of the Earth: Salinity in California’s Central Valley. This
DVD is ideal for showing at community forums and speaking
engagements to help the public understand the complex issues
surrounding the problem of salt build up in the Central Valley
potential – but costly – solutions. Narrated by comedian Paul
Rodriquez.
This 3-day, 2-night tour travels the length of the San Joaquin
Valley, giving participants a clear understanding of the State
Water Project and Central Valley Project.
15-minute DVD that graphically portrays the potential disaster
should a major earthquake hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
“Delta Warning” depicts what would happen in the event of an
earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale: 30 levee breaks,
16 flooded islands and a 300 billion gallon intrusion of salt
water from the Bay – the “big gulp” – which would shut down the
State Water Project and Central Valley Project pumping plants.
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.
Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is
today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the
fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically
important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system,
there have been some critical events that had a profound impact
on California’s water history. These turning points not only
forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives
of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a
historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped
the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with
background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.
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.
Fashioned after the popular California Water Map, this 24×36 inch
poster was extensively re-designed in 2017 to better illustrate
the value and use of groundwater in California, the main types of
aquifers, and the connection between groundwater and surface
water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Flood Management explains the
physical flood control system, including levees; discusses
previous flood events (including the 1997 flooding); explores
issues of floodplain management and development; provides an
overview of flood forecasting; and outlines ongoing flood control
projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
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 Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
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.
Travel across the state on Amtrak’s famed California
Zephyr, from the edge of sparkling San Francisco Bay,
through the meandering channels of the Delta, past rich Central
Valley farmland, growing cities, historic mining areas and into
the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
With the dual threats of obsolete levees and anticipated rising sea levels,
floodplains—low
areas adjacent to waterways that flood during wet years—are
increasingly at the forefront of many public policy and water
issues in California.
Adding to the challenges, many floodplains have been heavily
developed and are home to major cities such as Sacramento. Large
parts of California’s valleys are historic floodplains as well.
The Pacific Flyway is one of four
major North American migration routes for birds, especially
waterfowl, and extends from Alaska and Canada, through
California, to Mexico and South America. Each year, birds follow
ancestral patterns as they travel the flyway on their annual
north-south migration. Along the way, they need stopover sites
such as wetlands with suitable habitat and food supplies. In
California, 90 percent of historic wetlands have been lost.
The Mendota Pool, located at the confluence of the
San Joaquin River and Kings River in California’s Central
Valley, is the terminus of a long journey for water from the
Sacramento River.
After being diverted, the Sacramento River water heads south from
the Sacramento
San Joaquin Delta via the 117-mile long Delta-Mendota Canal.
Environmental concerns have closely followed California’s
development of water resources since its earliest days as a
state.
Early miners harnessed water to dislodge gold through hydraulic
mining. Debris resulting from these mining practices washed down
in rivers and streams, choking them and harming aquatic life and
causing flooding.
In the Central Valley, wetlands—partly or seasonally saturated
land that supports aquatic life and distinct ecosystems— provide
critical habitat for a variety of wildlife.
This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the
Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at
improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying
California’s long-term water supply reliability.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” in California. Much of the information
in the article was presented at a conference hosted by the
Groundwater Resources Association of California.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the challenges facing
small water systems, including drought preparedness, limited
operating expenses and the hurdles of complying with costlier
regulations. Much of the article is based on presentations at the
November 2007 Small Systems Conference sponsored by the Water
Education Foundation and the California Department of Water
Resources.
This issue of Western Water examines the extent to
which California faces a disaster equal to or greater than the
New Orleans floods and the steps being taken to recognize and
address the shortcomings of the flood control system in the
Central Valley and the Delta, which is of critical importance
because of its role in providing water to 22 million people.
Complicating matters are the state’s skyrocketing pace of growth
coupled with an inherently difficult process of obtaining secure,
long-term funds for levee repairs and continued maintenance.
This issue of Western Water analyzes northern California’s
extensive flood control system – it’ history, current concerns,
the Paterno decision and how experts are re-thinking the concept
of flood management.
