The San Joaquin River, which helps
drain California’s Central Valley, has been negatively impacted
by construction of dams, inadequate streamflows and poor water
quality. Efforts are now underway to restore the river and
continue providing agricultural lands with vital irrigation,
among other water demands.
After an 18-year lawsuit to restore water flows to a 60-mile dry
stretch of river and to boost the dwindling salmon populations,
the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement is underway.
Water releases are now used to restore the San Joaquin River and
to provide habitat for naturally-reproducing populations of
self-sustaining Chinook salmon and other fish in the San Joaquin
River. Long-term efforts also include measures to reduce or avoid
adverse water supply impacts from the restoration flows.
The first of seven monthly Kern River Snow and Water reports
put out by water watcher Scott Williams arrived in email boxes
Dec. 1 and the news was, fairly, well – “eh.” The watershed is
below average in terms of precipitation but not that below
average, according to Williams’ report, which uses a
compilation of data from multiple public websites. He typically
publishes the monthly updates based on water data from Nov. 1
through May 31. The North Fork of the Kern has 3.71 inches of
precip, or 86% of average, and the South Fork has 1.82 inches,
or 73 percent of average, according to the report. With storms
arriving this week, there’s a glimmer of hope for more. But
Williams’ report also notes there’s a 76% chance of a La Niña
winter this year, which typically means drier weather.
Several public interest groups sued the City of Bakersfield
Nov. 30 alleging the city has been derelict in its operation of
the Kern River by diverting most of its flows to agriculture
and other uses leaving a dry riverbed through the heart of
town. … Even though the city operates the river per a century
of agreements and judicial decrees, the lawsuit states, the
city still has an obligation to study the harm those diversions
may cause to the environment, fisheries and even the
recreational value of a flowing river. The case hinges on a
concept known as the “public trust,” under which the state
holds all natural resources, including water, in trust for the
most “beneficial use” for the public. That includes water
covered by 100-year-old rights, which includes most of the
rights to waters on the Kern.
The San Joaquin River is a vital source of water for
agriculture and the environment and it is also home to a unique
program that hopes to restore native fish runs. It is a complex
program and SJV Water was fortunate to take advantage of a tour
offered through the Water Education Foundation Nov. 2-3 that
helps break down the various aspects of restoration efforts.
The restoration program is a nearly one billion dollar endeavor
to restore spring-run Chinook salmon to the river which went
extinct there after Friant Dam and other obstructions were
built.
Recently, researchers from Stanford flew California skies on a
kind of airborne treasure hunt. Probing hundreds of feet into
the ground with electromagnetic signals, they were in search of
liquid gold – water, or more precisely a place to capture and
store it. … [Rosemary Knight, Ph.D., a researcher with
the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability] just released
a new study, confirming the airborne technology’s ability to
locate what is now popularly called “paleo valleys.” They’re
long, buried riverbed pathways created thousands of years ago
by the movement of glaciers that once covered the Sierra.
Filled with porous material, experts believe they could act
like a high-speed express lane to carry diverted flood water
deep into the aquifer.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced
awarding $5 million in funding for seven emergency response
agencies within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to increase
their ability to respond to flood emergencies. This funding
will help to improve the emergency response efforts for first
responders and help these communities prepare for threats of
flooding in the Delta, which is increasingly vulnerable to
flooding from storm events and sea level rise.
Modesto Irrigation District, Turlock Irrigation District and
the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission have signed a
memorandum of understanding with the state to advance a
voluntary agreement for the Tuolumne River. MID and TID, which
jointly operate the Don Pedro Reservoir on the Tuolumne River,
joined dozens of other California water agencies in committing
to collaborate with the state to finalize agreements that will
provide water supply reliability to communities, while
enhancing river ecosystems. Contra Costa Water District signed
onto the agreement in September. … The action by the
districts signals momentum towards an alternative to
regulations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board
in 2018, as part of the first phase of the state’s Bay-Delta
water quality control plan.
Consider California’s Stanislaus River. In the 1970s, people of
all ages and abilities reveled in running its 13 miles of
rapids bearing scary names like Widowmaker and Devil’s
Staircase. Not far from Sacramento and San Francisco, the
limestone canyon offered renewal and adventure to people nearly
year-round. But back in 1944, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
authorized 625-foot-high New Melones Dam for the Stan, though
filling it would drown the beloved canyon…. Now, with
New Melones logging its fourth decade of broken promises in
water delivery, flood control and energy production, hundreds
of river advocates from the old campaign hope to reclaim the
Stan. In their teens and 20s back then, and today in their 60s
and 70s, they believe the timing has never been better.
Three of California’s biggest water suppliers, including the
city of San Francisco, have reached a deal with the state that
calls for reducing their immense consumption of river water but
not as much as the state had initially demanded. The
compromise, announced Thursday, is the latest breakthrough in a
years-long effort by state regulators to protect flows in
California’s once-grand but increasingly overdrawn rivers. The
toll on the waterways, where as much as 90% of the water is
pumped to cities and farms, has been exacerbated by drought,
leaving fabled runs of salmon and other plants and animals at
risk of perishing. … But whether Thursday’s deal, known
as “voluntary agreements,” will meaningfully increase river
flows — and protect fish and wildlife — remains uncertain.
Steve Deverel gazes out over a levee on the San Joaquin River
to a buoy where half a dozen sea lions are barking. It’s a loud
reminder that even here, 50 miles inland, some of California’s
most productive farmland lies perilously close to the Pacific
Ocean. At any moment, a weak spot in the more than 1,000 miles
of earthen levees protecting islands in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta could unleash a salty deluge, threatening
not just crops, but the drinking water for as many as 27
million Californians. Deverel, a Davis-based hydrologist,
refers to this threat as “The Big Gulp,” a breach that would
suck in tens of billions of gallons of river water, drawing
ocean water in its wake.
Water on the Kern River works hard from start to finish. In
this Law of the River video, we continue our journey down the
river starting at Truxtun Avenue and Coffee Road in the heart
of Bakersfield.
Amador County, Calif., has standing to sue a state prison for
allegedly violating the Clean Water Act by discharging
pollutants from prison labor operations into the local water
supply, a federal trial court said. The Mule Creek State Prison
uses inmate labor to conduct meat packing, coffee roasting and
packing, and textile manufacturing operations. The CWA
prohibits the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters
unless the discharge complies with delineated standards. The
county’s suit was consolidated with a suit by the California
Sportfishing Protection Alliance, and the US District Court for
the Eastern District of California previously ruled that the
…
Defenders of Wildlife applauded a decision by the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation to request a renegotiation of a decades-old use
contract for the San Joaquin River that could spark stronger
protection for wildlife and drought management. Defenders and
the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) urged the Bureau
of Reclamation to reform its water supply contract with the San
Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority before the
conclusion of the renegotiation period. On Oct. 14, the Bureau
sent a letter to the Exchange Contractors, four days before the
deadline, with its intent to renegotiate. Though the contract
may be reviewed every five years, it has not been reviewed
since 1968.
The San Joaquin River that passes Manteca and Lathrop just as
it reaches the Delta is ground zero for yet another fight over
water. This time it’s to reduce the growing threat of toxic
algal bloom in the Delta that pose a threat to humans and pets
alike. And if emergency petitions filed last month with the
State Water Control Resources Board succeed, it will throw a
major wrench into state efforts to deal with allocating
dwindling water supplies as California enters its fourth year
of drought.
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 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.
Voluntary agreements in California
have been touted as an innovative and flexible way to improve
environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
and the rivers that feed it. The goal is to provide river flows
and habitat for fish while still allowing enough water to be
diverted for farms and cities in a way that satisfies state
regulators.
California is chock full of rivers and creeks, yet the state’s network of stream gauges has significant gaps that limit real-time tracking of how much water is flowing downstream, information that is vital for flood protection, forecasting water supplies and knowing what the future might bring.
That network of stream gauges got a big boost Sept. 30 with the signing of SB 19. Authored by Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), the law requires the state to develop a stream gauge deployment plan, focusing on reactivating existing gauges that have been offline for lack of funding and other reasons. Nearly half of California’s stream gauges are dormant.
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.
